


Little Soldier Boy

by ajriser



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Gen, Lots of it, OC, Other, Same story different POV, Teen Angst, Trans Male Character, and i don't think there is enough stories about trans characters, first story on here i'm doing my best
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-06-18 15:51:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15489315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ajriser/pseuds/ajriser
Summary: A hero with a path less traveled. He's never fit in anywhere. Never been accepted. His parent will not claim him and he is all alone in the one place demigods are supposed to find family. And he can't seem to stay away from the trouble and the battles to come especially after he meets Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. How will he survive in a world where he is constantly hunted and war is coming. He knows he's not the hero of the story, but no war is won without soldiers.





	1. Polka Dotted Boxers And Where the Fuck is Her Eye

"Oh my fuck, oh my fuck," I yelled as I rounded another corner catching a glimpse of the monster trailing behind me, " _Oh my fuck._ "

Pushing wavy brown hair out of my eyes as I sprinted. My short legs moving fast enough to more than make up what they lacked in length. The man, well not really, giant would be more accurate. It was at least eight feet tall with huge hair covered arms that featured many tattoos. It had teeth that rivaled a shark and when I had gotten too close to comfort I discovered it's breath smelt of death and rotting. The giant had been chasing me for over 4 blocks with alarmingly long strides. The stretchy material of the oversized sweater hung awkwardly and scraped my chest in unpleasant ways. I could feel sweat begin to collect in the arm pits of the sweater. Hey, the fear sweats get to everyone.

How I got to a point where I was fear sweating all over a stolen sweater in my boxers in the streets of New York City. Well... shit happens apparently. Important side note: I wasn't in my boxers by choice. The giant threw some kind of flaming ball of death and it was either lose my pants or third degree burns. I had to make an important choice.

I ran past another corner. Seconds later I heard a small crash as the giant couldn't make quite that sharp of a turn. There was some large building at the end of the street. I squinted and cursed under my breath as I tried to read and figure out where I was. The letters slowly came to me and I could read it about more than halfway down to the building.

_Martin Wing College Preparatory School_

...Or something like that. I got the word 'school' and that's all that matter to me at the moment. I pumped my arms even harder and I felt my legs burn with effort. The school was getting even closer in my vision. It wasn't too far. The ground started to shake underneath my feet with the weight of what I assume was a gaining giant. My eyes screwed shut as I forced myself to push even harder. The vibrations rocked my body and it felt like each footstep came with a heart tremor.

I forced my eyes open and I noticed I was almost level with the school doors. A garbage disposal-esque chuckle echoed in my ears from behind. I felt it rather than saw it. I ducked and rolled underneath a meaty arm swiped where my head had been moments ago. Asphalt dug into my skin and stung my already existing wounds. "You don't have time," the thought crossed my mind and then I was running again. Bolting straight for the school doors.

I threw my body weight against the door and used it to push me forward. It crashed against the wall. The impact sent the door rocketing back just in time for the giant to rip it off its hinges. The sound of metal ripping rang through the hallway. I swerved down another hallway that forked into two seperate hallways. The classic left or right problem. A horrifying crash of metal on metal sounded behind me. I turned around without thinking to see an entire row of lockers decimated by the very large door the giant had ripped off its hinges.

"Shit," the word left my mouth softly and was soon replaced with a bad taste as the giant was suddenly in my view only a dozen or so feet away from me. A sickening grin spread across its face. I turned and started to sprint down the hallway. Left or Right. It's getting closer. Left or Right. I was getting even closer to the split which means I could get away again. "Almost there". I could almost smell the giant behind me and the vibrations started to shock my body again. Left or Right.

Pain shocked my body as I was fucking bitch slapped down the left hallway. So much for the illusion of choice. My body flew sideways down the short hallway. I don't think it even counts as a hallway really. My body collided with something metal and solid yet it gave way to my body. I was suddenly thrown into a much smellier environment. Through blurry vision I recognized the thing I hit as a door, which at the moment was an accomplishment. The giant I had been running from ducked down and entered the room I had landed in. It closed the doors behind it like a polite gentleman.

I blinked rapidly to regain my vision and rolled over on to back. Bad idea. I yelped, "Fuck."

The pain shocked my system into focusing. Gym, I'm in a fucking gym class. The hardwood floors were cool on my mostly bare legs. Wow I bet these kids didn't wanna see my pink polka dot boxers today. "Tiny but a demigod is a demigod," growled a voice from across the room.

I began to slowly push myself up as I analyzed the room. Multiple other giants, okay then. Is that a cyclops, great. Skinny boy standing in the middle of it all, wonderful. Possible broken ribs, perfect. Today is just going great.

The raven-haired boy stared at me with wide eyes as I slowly steadied myself on my feet. His sea green eyes flickered over me rapidly and then to the giant behind me. He was skinny but not scrawny. His clothes were slightly ragged and burned in spots. His shaggy black hair was all over the place as well. The cyclops looking thing stood behind him almost cowering slightly. Also what the actual fuck is a demigod?

"Time to die, demigods," One of the giants roared as a flaming ball of metal flew towards the boy. He dove out of the way with surprising agility. The cyclops caught the ball out of the air and it steamed wildly in his hands. I stared in shock as he looked down at the metal in his hands almost like he didn't expect that to work. From the look on the boy's face neither did he.

That's when the chaos really started. Flaming metal balls were being hurled at us at an almost constant rate. The skinny boy was no longer their only target. I found myself diving out of the way and being thrown back by explosions. The pain in my right side getting more and more sharp everytime I hit the ground. Things were being yelled that I ignored for the most part.

Then the boy sprinted past my face after another collision with my old friend Mr. Hardwood Floor. I watched him as he bolted towards a set of doors that no one had been able to get through. My eyes flicked to giants and watched in horror as one of them had their sights set on him. I watched at the metal ball whistled through the air making a noise not unlike a tea kettle. He dove out of the way at the last possible second. The metal ball obliterating the door and opening up an escape. I couldn't see through the smoke to see where the door led.

I saw a head full of dark hair sprint through the smoke and debris until he was completely out of sight. I pushed myself off the floor and began to sprint after him. Holding my hand over my mouth and nose as I ran through pure dust and smoke. It was the closest I had to an exit at the moment. The smell of the burning boys locker room filled my senses as I ran through the hole in the wall.

"No," yelled a voice behind me. I turned around and noticed the silhouette of the boy. He must not have ran as far ahead as I anticipated. The cyclop sat slumped against the wall with a large ball of metal rolling a few feet away. The impact of the cyclops body created a giant hole in the wall. I could see the street and busy cars on the other side just barely. "Stop! I'm the one you want," the raven- haired boy yelled waving his arms wildly.

The debris had settles and there were piles of clothes laying everywhere across the gym. The cyclops attempts to rise to his feet, but he just couldn't. I skirted the edges of the gym, heading towards the hole in the wall. I began to get closer and closer to the cyclops. He appeared more dazed than dying.

"So you wish to die first, demigod?" the giant chuckles menacingly as the metal ball was rolled between his hands. It had spoken right about the time I had reached where the cyclops laid. My eyes trained on it. Fear soaked my body despite my best efforts. I didn't want to be afraid of him. He had been helping that boy it seemed. His singular eye flickered towards me. No. Behind me.

"Percy," the cyclops whispered as I turned my head toward where he was looking. The boy, Percy, I guess, was charging towards the giant like a damn fool. My heart beat spiked in my chest as a slow grin spread across the monster's face. It raised it's arm to hurl the ball at Percy. My eyes shut automatically, and I braced myself for the sound if crunching bones. It didn't come after 30 seconds. Slowly. I let my eyes open.

The giant's body was completely rigided when he groaned, "Ow." It went up in green flames before dissolving into pure golden dust. Behind where the giant had stood was a tall, California tan girl. The knife in her hand almost matched the color of her hair, dark-ish yet still holding a golden shine.

"That's the girl ... That's the girl—" Some random bulky boy mumbled and pointed at the girl.

The girl punched him in the nose and knocked him flat on his back. "And you," she told him, "lay off my friend." Welp, it is rude to point.

The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see people trying to get inside the gym. It was about my time to bolt, I think.

"Annabeth ..." Percy stammered. "How did you ... how long have you ..."

"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her bronze knife. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."

"The shadow I saw this morning—that was—" His face turning bright red. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bedroom window?"

"There's no time to explain!" she snapped, though she looked a little red-faced herself. "I just didn't want to—"

"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in. Yep, definitely my time to bolt. This was getting too wild.

"Meet me outside," Annabeth told him. "And them." She pointed to the cyclops and I. Annabeth gave us a look of distaste that I didn't quite understand and felt vaguely offended by.

"You'd better bring them."

"What?"

"No time!" she said. "Hurry!"

She put on a Yankees baseball cap, and instantly vanished. I blinked rapidly at where she had stood. She wasn't reappearing or maybe I was just crazy. That left us all standing in the middle of the burning gymnasium as the adults came charging in with a couple of police officers.

"Percy Jackson?" A man who appeared to be the principal or something said. "What ... how ..."

Next to me the cyclops groaned and stood up from the pile of cinder block, "Head hurts."

I grabbed a random pair of pants and started to put them on. I tried to get the buttons as fast as possible with my shaking hands. The kid who got socked in the face yelled, "Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He set the whole building on fire. Coach Nunley will tell you! He saw it all!"

The gym teacher who had sat off to the side in a metal lawn chair looked up just in time to mumble in agreement with the kid. I watched Percy lunge towards something the pile of clothes nearest to him. He turned and sprinted towards the hole in the wall, "C'mon Tyson."

"You too," He grabbed me by the wrist and began dragging me through the streets of New York behind him. He pulled me down several blocks. I kept up with him easily but he had a habit of jerking my arm in just the right way to make my ribs twinge in pain. He stumbled down an alley and jerked my arm especially hard. I ripped it out of his grip and stumbled backwards. My back bumping into Tyson's very solid front.

The girl from before reappeared. I blinked and looked around for possible places she could've come from that fast.

"Where'd you find them?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson. She leveled at stare a Percy with her hands on her hips.

"He's my friend, he goes to my school," Percy explained. "And she just kinda showed up one of them was chasing her."

"I am a man," I interjected, not sounding nearly as manly as I wanted. All I got was an apologetic look from Percy before his attention was turned back to Annabeth.

"Is he homeless?"

Percy's face scrunched up in confusion and disbelief. "What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

"He can talk?"

"I talk," Tyson added in a friendly manner. So far he was my favourite. "You are pretty."

"Gross," Annabeth took a few steps away. She turned around slowly while Percy approached Tyson. He took his hand and began to examine it. Her eyes flickered quickly between all three of us. She watched Tyson for a long moment as Percy brough the cyclops's hand very close to his face. Her attention then turned to me. "You're a demigod."

Her voice may have been hesitant, but it was a statement. A light burning sensation appeared in a line on my back. It moved up and over my shoulder. I could feel it start to slither down my arm. I pulled the sleeve of my sweater down so that it covered my hand. "What the hell is a demigod?"

Annabeth opened her mouth as if to say something and took a few steps towards me.

"Tyson," Percy said slowly in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," Annabeth muttered. "I'm surprised the Laestrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around." Annabeth then swatted at Tyson's hand as he tried to pet her blonde hair.

"Annabeth," I said, "what are you talking about? Laistry-what?"

"Laestrygonians. The monsters. They're a race of cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once," she looked into the distance like she was thinking deeply. "I've never seen them as far south as New York before."

"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"

"Canadians," she decided. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police'll be after me."

"That's the least of our problems," she said. "Have you been having the dreams?"

I zoned out of their conversation. I only caught snippets as my brain struggled to comprehend all this new information. What is a demigod? Who is this Grover guy? What the hell did dreams have to do with this? The itching sensation started up again. It crawled up my arm and slithered down my body. It got more and more intense until it was just an intense burning on my left calf. I looked down the length of the alley. I could feel a slight twinge of dull pain from biting my own lip. Cars zoomed by and sirens distantly sounded, but everything felt blurry. All sound was notably dulled. Despite having 20/20 vision, everything was out of focus and fuzzy. Except a woman on the other side of the street. When we made eye contact the burning sensation on my leg got even hotter. Her black trenchcoat contrasted against the white of her t-shirt underneath. She leaned lazily against a gnarled wooden staff almost the same length as her impressive height. Smoke swirled thickly above her raven-haired head like she occupied an atmosphere just for her and they were the clouds. Our eyes met for a long moment then I blinked and she was gone. The burning subsided almost immediately.

"Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp."

"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?" Percy exclaimed. I turned my head towards the two of them. everything was still blurry and out of focus, but I could listen better now.

I don't know exactly. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?"

Percy shook his head and scrunched his brow up. "None all year ... until today."

"None? But how ..." Both of our eyes drifted towards Tyson. Annabeth spoke lightly, "Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?" Percy was starting to look extremely frustrated with his lack of answers.

Annabeth's eyes turned towards me. She raised an eyebrow quizzically in my direction. "What about you? Have you been chased by things no one else sees?"

I focused more than I felt I should've had to to answer her question. I played with my own fingers and diverted my unfocused vision to anywhere except for her. "Yeah."

I felt a hand on my shoulder rather than saw it. I redirected my eyes to her slightly blurred silhouette. Whatever was happening, it was getting better. My vision was fading out rather than staying completely blurred. Annabeth asked softly, "How long has this been happening?" She bit her lip and squeezed my shoulder. "How old are you?"

I blinked a few times and focused on finding the words to speak. I stated, "I'm from Maine, they've been following me since I left." I pulled a deep breath into my lungs. "I turned twelve last month... that- that's when I left."

The words had come out shakier than I had meant, but Annabeth only nodded stoically. She furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to speak. Tyson spoke first after raising his hand like a young school boy, "Canadians in the gym called Percy something... Son of the Sea God?"

Annabeth's hand dropped off my shoulder as her and Percy shared a look. Percy sighed and his eyes flickered to me before settling on Tyson. Percy took a stepped forward with a calming smile. "Big guy, you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena—"

"Yes," Tyson said.

"Well ... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods." Percy moved his hands a lot when he spoke. When I listened close I could hear his New York accent.

"Yes," Tyson said, like he knew everything that was already being told to him. I watched confused as I listened in to the things Percy said. The things he was saying were... weird.

"Uh, well, Annabeth and I are half-bloods," Percy added despite the growing confused expression on his face, "We're like ... heroes-in-training. They attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."

"Yes."

Percy stared at him with a furrowed brow. He didn't seem surprised or confused by what he was being told. Meanwhile my heart had picked up. The itching sensation started up again and moved up to the middle of my back. "So ... you believe me?"

Tyson nodded. "But you are ... Son of the Sea God?"

"Yeah," Percy admitted slowly. "My dad is Poseidon."

Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused. "But then ..."

A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley. I flinched without meaning to.

"We don't have time for this," Annabeth said. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"A taxi all the way to camp?" Percy said in complete shock like a true New Yorker. "You know how much money—"

"Trust me." Annabeth cut him off.

"Um," the word came out without me thinking about it, "What about Tyson?"

Percy and Annabeth shared a look. Percy said, "She- he's right." He sent an apologetic smile my way. "He'll be in trouble too. We should take him."

"Yeah." Annabeth looked grim. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."

I watched as Percy's face scrunched up at her tone. She grasped my hand and dragged me out of the alley behind her. We started navigating the streets of New York. Sirens sounding around the area, and a visible plume of smoke floating into the air a couple blocks back. I lost count of how any back alleys we ducked down. It felt like only a matter of time till a lucky cop drove past and saw us. Annabeth wasn't nearly as rough on my arm as Percy had been. It was understable though, he had been in a hurry. Although the dull pain of my ribs was getting sharper as the adrenaline was beginning to leave my system. We finally reached a street corner that I did not recognize.

"Here," Annabeth declared as she swung her backpack around and began to search it. She squinted in concentration. "I hope I still have one left."

My eyes flicked around traffic waiting for a cop car to show up. Hell, maybe even another monster.

"What are you looking for?" Percy asked.

Annabeth continued to dig through her bag, biting her lip. "Found one. Thank the gods." Annabeth pulled out a gold coin that i didn't recognize.

"Annabeth," Percy stated dryly, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."

"Stêthi," she shouted in some strange language. "Ô hárma diabolês!"

I didn't recognize the language. I had the smallest suspicion that I had heard it before, but I didn't know what it was. As she spoke though, the words began to translate in my head until they made sense. She'd said: Stop, Chariot of Damnation!

Which did not sound like a good time to me. It definitely didn't look like a good time when the asphalt in the street turned red. It bubbled and liquified. The whole scene was disturbing and reminded me of boiling blood. From the ooze a taxi sign appeared, then the roof of the car, and then the rest of it. It was identical to any New York Taxi, except that it was a smokey gray and looked thirty years old. I peeked at the backseat that had erupted from the ground in a position that I could see right into it. There were three seats, and with Tyson's large size, three people alone would've been a squeeze.

The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of old tangled hair that covered her eyes, and she mumbled hoarsely, "Passage? Passage?"

"Four to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said as she strolled to the backseat door and opened it.

"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take his kind!"

She pointed a bony finger at Tyson. I watched the annoyed and frustrated look take over Percy's face as the woman gestured angrily at Tyson.

"Extra pay," Annabeth promised dryly. "Three more drachma on arrival."

"Done!" the woman screamed. She slapped the side of the cab lightly almost like she was inviting us inside.

Annabeth held the door open as Percy got in first. He scooted across the old leather seat to the other side of the cab. Tyson had to scrunch his body up to crawl into the cab after Percy. I could see his knees almost touching his chest, masking Percy almost completely from my view. Annabeth climbed in last. Which left me ass out on the curb. "Um guys.." I said, bringing Annabeth's attention from her chain seatbelt to me.

Annabeth looked at Tyson and Percy tightly packed in the cab then back to me. She scrunched her brown and then said slowly, "Just sit in my lap."

"Oh," I said, the word slipped out weakly followed by a very squeaky, "Okay."

Annabeth shut the door behind me. I tried very hard to not move too much in her lap after I initially sat down. One of her arms wrapped around my middle lazily, I suspected so it wouldn't have to be pushed up against Tyson. I noticed there were in fact three old women in the front seat. They all had the same stringy hair, and sackcloth dresses that did nothing to hide that they were basically skin and bones.

The one driving screamed, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"

She put the gas pedal to the literal metal of the cab floor. I felt myself rocket forward. I almost flew out of Annabeth's lap and through the front window. I firmly believe I would have if she hadn't wrapped her other arm around me tightly in time. I could've sworn i felt my ribs bend in the most painful way possible, and it is highly possible I swore very loudly.

A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker, far too cheerful for what was taking place, "Hi, this is Ganymede, cupbearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!"

We zoomed around a corner and I could feel my stomach move inside my old disney-witch-looking lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" the driver complained.

I looked back at Annabeth, but before I could say anything the driver swerved over a curb. My head slammed against the ceiling and I came too close to biting off my tongue.

"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."

"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"

"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.

The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"

"Brake!" yelled Anger.

Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box with the rear end of the cab. I could feel myself beginning to panic. My chest tightened like someone was blowing up my heart like a balloon, and there was no longer any space for anything else. The itching sensation escalated into a light burning and it went insane up and down my back. It moved unpredictably like a wild animal in a corner. I could feel my breathing hitch with each rapid breath. I felt Annabeth's grip tighten slightly. She spoke softly in my ear, "It's okay, breathe."

We sped down another street and two more corners before I had my breathing under control with constant reminders from Annabeth. She loosened her grip to make it easier for me to breathe.

"Excuse me," Percy said from the other side of the taxi. "But ... can you see?"

"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.

"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.

"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window. She sounded way to smug for my liking.

I looked at Annabeth. "They're blind?"

"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."

"One eye?" Percy yelled over the sound of the speeding car.

"Yeah."

"Each?" He asked and even from the other side of the cab I could see the desperate hope in his eyes.

"No. One eye total." We both looked at her with an expression that portrayed the pure feeling of ' _Why?_ '. She shrugged and stated, "Hey, Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."

Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good."

Percy and I shared a look of panic. This was not good at all. Big guy meant big stomach, and I was not looking to find out what had been the lunch special at that hippie school. Percy said something too quietly for me to hear, but the look on his face was enough to understand the fear behind it.

"If it's the fastest way to camp," Percy yelled, "Why not take it from Virginia?"

"That's outside their service area," she said, like that should be obvious. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."

"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"

"Don't remind me!" Wasp wailed. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"

"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.

"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"

"No!" Tempest screeched. "You had it yesterday!"

"But I'm driving, you old hag!"

"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"

Wasp swerved around a corner clipping the curb on my side hard. My side of the cab jumped and I fell out of Annabeth's lap. Turning in mid-air. I landed on the floorboards. My ribs landing right on top of Tyson's huge feet. I yelped in pain without meaning to.

The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, I realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.

Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"

I heard Tyson groan above me. Percy yelled at the top of his lungs, ""Uh, if anybody's interested, we're going to die!"

We clipped something on the bridge that caused my body to pop off the floorboards before slamming back down again. I groaned, "If anyone's interested I'm dying."

"Don't worry," Annabeth tried to reassure us, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."

Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired rotting tooth. "We know things!"

"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"

"The location you seek!" Tempest added.

Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"

"What?" Percy said, sounding very confused. "What location? I'm not seeking any—"

"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"

"Tell me."

"No!" they all screamed.

"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.

"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.

"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that—give it back!"

"No!" yelled Anger.

"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"

She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to swat it with the back of her hand. The eye flew directly over my face in what felt like slow motion. I watched it as it arced directly into Percy's lap. He jumped in his seat which caused his feet to slam back down to the floorboards way too close to my head, and for the eye to fall and roll under the driver's seat. I could see multiple sets of bony, gnarled hands reach for it. The eye was just a few inches out of their reach and they just didn't know where to look.

"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.

"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.

"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed.

"I don't have it!" Percy exclaimed with his hands up.

I snatched the eye out from under the seat. It was dark green and covered in a slime-like it had been coated pond scum. I held it with two hands to keep it from slipping out of my hands.

The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain. I could smell the smoke from inside the taxi and it was sickening. Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge, going faster than any human taxi could ever.

"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.

"Nice boy!" Anger cried, as if she somehow knew I had her missing peeper. "Give it back!"

I looked at Percy, and our eyes met. Without looking away from him, I yelled, "Tell Percy about whatever location this is."

"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"

Percy nodded at me with a slight bit of fear after looking at the window. My pulse was going as fast as the taxi, but I forced a steady breath into my lungs. I threatened, "Better make it fast then."

Annabeth warned, "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."

"First they have to tell me," Percy said, not breaking eye contact with me. We had a silent agreement to see this through now. Why was I doing it? I don't know, it was just instinct and I was too far in now.

"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"

"I swear to god!" I yelled as deeply and threateningly as I could, "I will smash this eye against the floorboards and you will spend eternity looking for the pieces."

"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!" They yelled in complete panicked unison. It was almost scary and made no sense to me whatsoever.

"What do you mean?" I said. "That makes no sense!"

"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"

I sat up, and I could see through the window we were no longer on some kind of highway. It was a dirt road surrounded on both sides by perfect green grass. We were still speeding uncontrollably. Annabeth demanded, "Give them the fucking eye."

I sprung into action. I shoved the eye into the driver's bony palm. I could hear the wet suction noise as she popped the eye into her socket. Ahead of us was a large hill with a pine tree atop of it.

"Whoa!" yelled Wasp.

She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of the hill. We were all, but somehow magically forced out of the taxi. I landed on my ass next to Tyson.

Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."

Percy scrambled to his feet and walked up to the passenger side window, "Now tell me what those numbers mean."

He didn't get his answer as they sped away nearly running over his foot in the process. I nearly choked on the dust they left behind. I looked around the area we had been dropped.

"No time!" Annabeth yelled at Percy.

In the distance, I could hear yelling. I looked at hill and realized it was coming from the other side. I listened closely and it started to sound more like screaming. I saw a few plumes of smoke coming from the other side of the hill. Campfires? Then the sound of metal clanging met my ears. Then a large shiny beast ran into my range of view on the top of the hill and blew fire from it's mouth into the air.

"What the hell kind of camp is this?"


	2. Will Solace is an Angel and I'd Kill a Man for Him

"What the hell kinda camp is this?" I yelled but it appears as if I wasn't going to get an answer. I watched as some people charged at the large metal bull with what appeared to be swords and spears. It shone almost golden in the sunlight, but it was too dark to actually be gold, probably brass or bronze. I walked slowly up to where Annabeth stood. From her angle, I could see much better. Dozens upon dozens of teenagers some decked out in armor and some not. Almost all had some type of weapon to fight against the bull. Actually,  _bulls._ Three, to be specific, all around the size of elephants.

"Oh, man," said Annabeth, looking at the battle raging on the hill. I felt like that was quite the understatement. The bulls were absolutely destroying the people fighting them. Running back and forth wildly across the hill, and charging into anything they could hit.

"Border patrol, to me!" A feminine voice screamed out sounding gruff and commanding. My eyes searched for the source. I looked at a tall warrior with dark hair with other fighters scattering in all directions around her. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's grass burning wildly in spots up and down the hill. I looked at Percy and Annabeth beside me. Tyson stood back a few feet starring in some sort of awe.

Percy pulled a ballpoint pen out of his pocket. I didn't realize why until he uncapped it and it started to glow and turn into a three-foot long sword. I blinked hard several times. It held the same brassy color as the bulls. His mouth set in a determined line, he said, "Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances."

"No!" Annabeth protested. "We need him." I could see why she argued with him. Why would we leave the fireproof cyclops behind in a fight against giant mechanical fire-breathing bulls?

Percy stared at her in complete confusion. "He's mortal. He got lucky with the dodgeballs but he can't—"

"Percy, do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get burned to a crisp." Annabeth pointed at the crest of the hill. I had no clue what she was saying, but I was inclined to believe her. Also, why was Percy calling Tyson mortal?

"Medea's what?"

Annabeth ignored him as she swung her bag around and began to search it. The smell of fire and smoke was all I could smell. I looked back towards the hill where everyone was fighting and the itching sensation reappeared on the back of my left shoulder. It wasn't nearly as intense as it usually was, in fact, it was almost a calming hum on my skin. For the first time in years, it felt almost like it was right. A heavy feeling settled in my chest. The same feeling I got when I drank hot chocolate too fast because I was impatient and my dad would laugh at me. The smell of wood smoke filled my nostrils. It felt wrong to be reminded of home when these people were literally be attacked.

"Tyson, stay back," Percy commanded, sword raised. I was startled from my haze at the sound of his voice. "I'm going in."

Tyson reached out his arm, sputtering and trying to get a word in. It was too late. Percy was running full speed into battle. Annabeth visibly rolled her eyes before running in the direction towards the bulky warrior from earlier. I watched on helplessly as she attempted to rally her troops. They were locking shields shoulder-to-shoulder in an attempt to make some sort of wall. It wouldn't have been a bad idea, but too many people were running wildly on fire instead of listening. Percy was only halfway up the hill.

The bull gleamed in the sunlight. Moving too fast for how heavy it probably was. It was terrifying to watch the thing move with lightning-like speed even from a distance. It's eyes shone red in a devilish way like it's creator wanted to say "Look at this, it's beautiful and it will make the world burn."

Annabeth waved her arms and taunted one of the bulls. It charged at her. Before it reached the blonde, she turned invisible. It looked around frantically for several minutes. When it lost interest in looking for Annabeth, Bull Number One began to charge towards the shield wall's unprotected side. Percy gave a shout that I couldn't translate through all the noise. The next thing I saw was Number One crashing full speed into the wall of fighters. The fighters flew in all different directions.

My heart skipped a beat. My feet moved forward without fully thinking the action threw. My body settling into a jog up the hill. The buzzing on my back slithered down my arm until it wrapped around my forearm. I tried to take in everything around me as fast as possible.

The leader sat in a smoking patch of grass. Number One charged past her. It sprayed fire left and right at the running fighters. Number Three ran in circles around a group of kids. Their armor was much more sloppy. I couldn't tell if it was from fighting for too long or having to join the fight as quickly as possible. Now at the top of the hill, I had a much clearer view of everything. The other side of the hill left me in awe.

Cabins like the ones at summer camps shaped in a 'U' formation. Each cabin seemed specifically personalized. Was that barbed wire at the top of one? A couple of them even looked like temples, tall and pristine. A large two-story house covered with peeling baby blue paint wasn't too far from the cabins. A lake to the right of the cabins, and an amphitheater not too far from it. A field for something in the distance. I could see the ocean from where I stood and the large forest that sat in front of some of the shore. Was that a climbing wall covered in lava? Okay, yeah, this place is weird.

A scream pulled me out of my own head. Number Two bolted past me with a vengeance. If I had five feet to the left it's horns would've skewered me, but I wasn't the target. The heat radiating off the bull felt hot on my skin even from where I was standing. I looked to where it was headed. Directly towards the leader of the fighters. Percy surged forward and yanked her out of the way. He swiped at it's flank with his sword. All it seemed to do is annoy the beast. Percy pulled the bulky girl away from the fight as she yelled and cursed at him. He dropped her by the pine tree with his back to the camp.

"Spread out!" Annabeth yelled and gestured at the other campers, "Protect the camp!"

Number One ran a wide arc, making its way back towards Percy. The teenagers were now spread out in a loose line. Number Two glared at Percy as fire spewed out of the gash in it's leg. A scream on the other side of me drew my attention. Number Three swung it's head back and forth wildly. It seemed much wilder than the others. It's head turned towards me so I could see the right side perfectly, and found out why. The ruby that had been it's eye was shattered and falling out of the socket. Every time it moved another shard hit the ground glittering.

I felt out of place on the battleground surrounded by these other kids who were obviously more than prepared to fight for their lives. The buzzing on my forearm stayed in place but spiked. I looked to my left and saw Percy lunging at Number Two. It blew flames at him that he dodged. That seemed to set off Number Three. It charged blindly, bucking in circles and randomly spewing fire. I scrambled out of it's past for the moment. Looking back over at Percy, I caught him tripping on something and falling to the ground. He swung at Number Two as he went down. I watched a piece of bronze snout hit the ground by him. It galloped away from him for the moment. I watched him pick himself up, and as soon as he did he nearly collapsed. Number One rounded and made way straight for Percy who sat on the ground.

Annabeth shouted: "Tyson, help him!"

Somewhere near, toward the crest of the hill, Tyson wailed, "Can't—get—through!"

"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"

That's all I heard before the hill shook underneath my feet. Tyson came charging towards Percy and the bull. He dove between the two just as the bull breathed out a large cloud of fire. I heard Percy scream Tyson's name as the flames engulfed the cyclops. The fire swirled around him dying slowly. The look on Percy's face was absolutely heartbreaking. But when the fire died, Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Not even his grungy clothes were scorched. Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. "BAD COW!"

His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.

"Down!" Tyson yelled.

A smile crept up my face. Laughter bubbled in my chest from the utter relief that Tyson was okay, and so was Percy. It didn't last long though. A surprised yell behind me drew my attention. Bull Number Three was charging wildly towards a young, blonde boy around my age. My eyes darted wildly. The buzzing intensified on my arm. A spear, abandoned and intact, stuck out of the ground a few feet away from me. I lunged forward and pulled it from the ground. I swirled towards where I saw the bull charging and launched the spear with all the strength in my arm. My ribs twinged at the sudden movement.

The weapon arced through the air faster than I expected and spinning like a football. It struck the bull directly in the socket of it's missing eye. It stumbled and swerved off course. It slowed to a stop. The bull shook it's head violently back and forth. The spear dislodged. It flew out of the socket landing dozens of feet away. The bull's head turned towards me as if even with one eye as if it knew  _exactly_  who the bitch that threw that spear was. I breathed out, "Fuck."

It's sights were trained on me. The bronze bull charged. My brain kicked into gear faster than my body could process the simple command of 'run'. Then I was sprinting. The situation felt too familiar, but I had no time to dwell on it. My legs carried me down the other side of the hill. I passed the leader of the fighters as she was dispatching Bull Number Two. She stabbed her spear through it's leg so it couldn't move. A glance behind me told me the bull was still trained on me. I swerved towards where she was standing with a few other fighters. One stood off to the side with a gleaming sword in his hand. He held it loosely, but his attention was still on the subdued bull.

I pumped my legs even faster as an idea popped into my head. The tall teenager was at least a foot taller than me. There's only like a forty-five percent chance of this working but I had nothing else. I was already too far away from the rest of the fighters. I couldn't outrun this bull forever. I shoulder checked the guy. On his way down to the ground, I grabbed the sword out of his hand. It wasn't very long or heavy, but the weapon felt clumsy in my hand.

I looked back. Which proved to be a mistake. The bull was even closer than before. Flames shot out of Number Three's nostrils. It opened it's mouth, and flames spilled out of it's eye as it prepared to fry me. I hooked a hard right almost tripping on my own feet. Fire shot out in waves behind me. The bull could react or turn as fast as me. It was now or never. I hooked another hard right so that I was facing the bull's side. I let myself slip off my feet, and baseball slide the few feet towards the bull. I felt the heat overwhelm me as my body slipped underneath the bull. Before it had the chance to step on me I swung the sword wildly at it's front legs. My eyes squeezed shut. The sword cut through the bull with less resistance than I expected. There was a large thud next to my head. Then nothing besides the bull's heavy breathing.

I forced my eyes open despite the heat that made them water. I observed the scene in front of me. I still laid underneath the bull like a mechanic to a car. It's front legs were nothing but stubs now. The halves I had cut off laid a few feet away. The bull's chest leaned on the ground while it's back legs tried to charge forward, but it couldn't do anything besides drive itself deeper into the ground. I scrambled out from under the bull. The sword still hanging loosely in my hand. The blade gave off visible waves of heat. A deep breath escaped my lungs with only a little pain as I gazed at the bull, "Fuck you."

I stabbed the sword through the top of the bull's head until the guard touched the bull. I limped back up the hill towards a familiar blonde head and the one-eyed teddy bear.

"You  _ruin_  everything!" the leader yelled at Percy. She was a good head taller than him and her body language screamed aggression. "I had it under control!"

Annabeth grumbled, "Good to see you too, Clarisse."

"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever,  _ever_  try saving me again!"

"Clarisse," Annabeth said just as I walked up behind her, "you've got wounded campers."

A look of clarity crossed the girl's, Clarisse's, face. She walked away with a hardness in her eyes I wouldn't expect from a teenager. I had more pressing matters though like asking, "What the hell is going on here?"

Annabeth whirled around to look at me. Her face went through several emotions settling on concerned and slightly angry. She crossed her arms across her body. Her eyes visibly examined me. She demanded, "Where did you go?"

"I was playing matador to the world's deadliest bull," I yelled. I pointed behind me where I had left the bull pinned to the ground. Anger and frustration bubbled in my chest as an after effect of the adrenaline wearing off. "And I think I'm the one who deserves an explanation. You drag me all the way fucking out here. You almost get me killed multiple times. You call me a demigod and don't explain what the fuck that is. I want answers."

"You didn't die," Percy spoke with a glazed look in his eyes. He stared at Tyson in confusion and awe. His eyes flickered up and down his friend looking for any sign of damage. My fists clenched at my sides. My own nails dug into my palm out of frustration. I felt like it would be almost appropriate to stomp my foot and throw a tantrum.

Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. He played with his own hands and shuffled his feet. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

"My fault," Annabeth said. She turned away from. Her shoulders visibly relaxed like she really didn't wanna have this conversation with me. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."

"Let him cross the boundary line?'" Percy asked, his brow furrowing. "But-"

"Percy," she said, "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean ... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."

Percy blinked hard as he stared at Tyson. He chewed on his lip in concentration for several moments. Then his blinking slowed and his mouth hung open slightly. I looked at Tyson's large brown eye. Was this really the first time Percy had noticed?

"Tyson," Percy stammered. He ran a hand through his hair. "You're a ..."

"Cyclops," Annabeth offered. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."

"One of the what?"

"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said distastefully. "They're... mistakes, Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods... Well, one god in particular, usually... and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."

"But the fire. How—"

"He's a Cyclops." Annabeth paused as if she were remembering something unpleasant. "They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you."

That explained some things, I guess. The smell of smoke was still filling my nostrils. Some people were laying on the ground and groaning. Injured fighting against the bulls. I looked to where the bull I had run from was still pinned to the ground. My side ached, and I still felt hot from being way too close to that bull. I still had no clue where I was exactly. They had called it Camp Half-Blood. It was a beautiful stretch of land, minus the burning bits.

With a deep breath, I turned back to Annabeth. I pulled on her sleeve. She turned around slowly and when her eyes met mine, I asked, "Tell me what's going on,  _please_."

"Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened." Clarisse stomped back over. Her eyes scanned over all three of us.

"Tantalus?" Percy asked.

Annabeth's eyes softened before she whispered, "Later."

I felt the ball of frustration rise in my chest again. I nodded reluctantly before releasing her shirt. My sweater was way too hot and itchy. I didn't want to take it off until I felt less anxious in my surroundings.

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.

"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."

Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."

"But Chiron ... He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?"

"That happened," Clarisse snapped. She pointed at the tall pine tree at the top of the hill. She was looking more and more annoyed with Percy and his questions.

I looked closely at the pine tree for the first time really. The trunk was tall and thick. It stood strong at the top of the hill like a marker for something great. It didn't feel right when I noticed the needles were yellowing and falling off like snow from the sky. In the center of the tree was an oozing green hole. The only blemish on the tree's trunk. It was no bigger than a bullet wound. A weight settled in my chest. The kinda feeling you got when you witnessed something deeply wrong.

I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. Annabeth stood behind me with her eyes glued to the tree. She spoke quietly, "I'll have someone show you around the camp and explain everything to you, I promise. Just-" She paused. The silence while short weighed heavily in the air. "Just, wait here."

She patted my shoulder once before walking away. I slowly sat down on a piece of grass that wasn't smoking. The camp looked beautiful from the top of the hill. It was covered in green grass. The sounds of the ocean faintly echoed in my ears even from so far of away. The forest stood tall, strong, and mysterious. When I closed my eyes, I could breathe in the scent of nature and wood smoke. It felt like home.

I could almost see the smoke drifted upwards serenely into the sky back home. A brick chimney poking out of the top of the small, wooden house. An almost cabin like the place on the outskirts of town. The woods started right as the backyard ended. Dad lifting me on his shoulders after driving us both home in his rickety truck. He loosens his tie after dropping me at our doorstep and unlocking the door. His face was still etched into my memory. Campfire coals for eyes, and the warmest smile I could ever remember. He smelt continuously like chalk, Expo markers, and books. He cut my hair for me. His eyes would twinkle when he ruffled my hair after a fresh cut and in his deep throaty voice in between chuckles he'd say, "There's my son again."

My arms wrapped around my chest insecurely. In the corner of my vision hung an uneven piece of hair. I had cut it with kitchen scissors in the night before I had left home. I pressed my knees to my chest. This sweater was huge on my body, but it covered things rather well. I leaned my head down to rest on the tops of my knees. I felt like a speck of dust amongst the chaos that was cleaning up the battlefield. In the distance, I saw several campers approaching the bull that I had fought. I tried desperately to run at the campers and fire blew from it's nostrils. The itching sensation moved from my forearm to the side of my rib cage and settled.

A tap on my shoulder startled me out of my thoughts. My head jerked to my left. I was met with the sight of cargo shorts and a sunshine yellow t-shirt. A boy about my age, if not older, stood with a cheeky smile and a hand on his neck. My eyes were drawn to the hello kitty band-aid on the side of his jaw. He offered a hand and spoke, "Hey, I'm Will, um, Annabeth said to show you around."

I grabbed his hand with mine and he pulled me up with relative ease. I could see his arms flex muscles that no eleven years old should have. They weren't bodybuilder muscles by any means. He was a skinny kid, they were closer to the kinda muscles a swimmer would have, more lithe than big. His hand was also dotted with small calluses. He flashed a large smile, "Come on, dude."

He grabbed my hand as if we had known each other much longer than a few minutes. He intertwined our fingers with a grin like he was trying to make sure it was okay. The weight of his hand was almost calming. I looked at his profile as he dragged me down the hill. He seemed to be different to me in every way, not opposite, just different. Where he had waves of light blonde hair that fell in waves around his face down to his jaw. I had spurts of tree-bark colored hair that was constantly in a wavy mess. His skin held that perfect California tan while mine was more of a dark, tawny brown. My nose was hooked while his- while slightly bent at the tip like he had broken it- was straight. His big blue eyes like the sky itself darted around excitedly. My hooded eyes, on the other hand, housed irises the color of dull jade. He had a baby face that was still squarer than mine but not by much.

We had made it to the bottom of the hill. He looked over and smiled when he noticed me staring. He started, "So, Annabeth said you have no idea what's going on?"

I nodded slowly. My eyes wouldn't leave the other boy's. They reminded me of the sky in the days after a rainstorm.

He made a wide gesture and sucked a breath in like he was preparing to start a grand speech. " _This_... Is Camp Half-Blood. Half-Blood referring to demigods, which is what we are." He waved his free hand wildly while he talked, and would even gesture with the hand he had intertwined with mine. We seemed to be heading towards the lake. "Now, It's kinda explained in the name but a demigod- or Half-Blood- is someone who is half-human and half-god. You see where the names came from." He wiggled his eyebrows at me with a coy smile. "Greek gods, specifically, ya know, Zeus and all that."

My mind was drawn back to some brief lessons about Greek mythology and Disney movies. I struggled to put together words, so what came out was, "And they real?"

He laughed melodically, "Yeah, they real, and they get around." We walked passed the still pinned bull. He pointed towards the cabins, "Everyone here has a godly parent, and depending on which one it is you stay in one of those cabins. Each cabin is personalized to fit the god it's dedicated to. Right now we have twelve, but there are dozens of more minor gods, too many too count really."

"What about the temples?" the words were out my mouth before I could really think.

Will brightened at my question. "The small one is for Poseidon, Percy is the only camper in there. The other two are for Hera and Zeus. Zeus doesn't have any children besides Thalia... she can't really stay in there. Hera is the goddess of marriage and is married to Zeus. She just doesn't have children even though Zeus is a hoe."

The sky thundered above them. Will giggled to himself as they walked closer to the lake. Will swung their hands lightly. He continued, "Now as you saw earlier it's not just the gods of legends that are real, it's the monsters too. They can smell our godly blood, they hunt and try to kill us. When we kill them they don't die forever either, eventually, they're reborn after an undetermined period of time. So, riddle me this, you got all these gods making kids all over the world and are constantly hunted by hundreds of monsters that never die for good, what do you do to make sure the demigods don't die as soon as they hit puberty?"

He walked onto the pier and down its length. He dropped my hand so he could sit on the edge and dangle his feet just above the water. I mirrored his position slowly. He looked at me expectantly. It took me a moment to realize he was actually expecting an answer. "Ummm, you train them to fight back?" It sounded more like a question than answer even to me.

"Exactly," He exclaimed happily. He threw his hands in the air in a dramatic gesture. "This is Camp Half-Blood, one of the only places in the world where monsters can't get in and heroes can train in peace."

I turned around slowly to look at the bull that was still pinned to the ground. It angrily spewing fire out of it's nose and tried to hip thrust any camper that got too close. Will followed my gaze and he deflated a little, "Heh. Well, usually it's like totally cool and safe. We're having some technical difficulties right now."

I turned back to the water. In the depths, I saw something. Faces and bodies, they almost looked like mermaids. Will leaned over the water and waved at the figures. Several swam closer to the surface and waved back. He said, "Naiads, or water nymphs. They're friendly spirits most of the time."

I watched the naiads swim around for a few more moments. Will went on about more demigod related things. He explained that most of the demigods suffered from either ADHD or Dyslexia or both. He seemed to light up when he talked about all the different activities at camp. He explained a lot more about the different gods and goddesses. He even went on a ten-minute rant about how the new activities director Tantalus, didn't deserve to be here. He told me all about Chiron, and my heart dropped slight because I couldn't meet him. I felt my heart lift when he said that campers could stay year round. There wasn't much I could do to fight what Will was saying besides flat-out denial. I had seen the monsters. I had been chased by several for the last month. Here it was an explanation. It felt so much better than just being insane.

He clapped his hands together. His grin was large and so contagious that it made a smile appear on my lips. He leveled his soft eyes at me, "Any questions?"

I stared back at the water. Something popped up in the back of my head. It had been bothering me since I had first been chased by monsters. I asked hesitantly, "How come no one else can see the monsters?"

Will pursed his lips as he thought. He said, "There is this thing called The Mist. It's what keeps people from finding the camp. It masks everything supernatural from mortal eyes. It even works on demigods sometimes."

The fact that Percy couldn't see that Tyson was a cyclops suddenly made more sense. I nodded curtly and turned towards the water once more. Will stretched his arms and back with a loud yawn. We sat in silence for several moments, but it was comfortable. He gave off a feeling of constant calm. His every move and sentence was animated, but the feeling he gave off reminded me of watching sunrises over the ocean.

He suddenly stood up. He offered me his hand once more as I pulled my legs back to where they weren't dangling over the water. I grabbed his hand more confidently. He pulled me up and held onto my hand. He intertwined our fingers as he started down the pier. "Okay, so next order of business," He stated easily, "We need to get you some new clothes and a stop to the armory."

"Armory?" I asked. The word almost felt strange in my mouth. My free hand began to play with the hem of my sweater. I didn't like the idea of splitting with my sweater. It was comfortable and it hid my body.

Will's eyes went up and down my body in a way that felt like an examination. He hummed for a few steps more. He spoke after a solid two minutes of peaceful humming, "We'll go to the armory first."

We walked silently for the most part. Will took the time to occasionally point out where different things were. The silence in between Will's explanations was filled with humming. Even if he was just humming, I could tell he had a beautiful voice. We passed the cabins. Dozens of campers were constantly walking in and out of different cabins. A colosseum like structure filled my vision. Even from dozens of feet away, I could hear the sound of metal crashing against metal as we passed.

We arrived at a rather large shack on the other side of the Arena. Will gestured grandly at the shabby building, "This is the camp's largest storage of weapons."

"Oh," was all I could say after being so completely underwhelmed. Will had pointed out the Forge after we had passed the Arena. The crashing of hammers rang loudly here. He opened the door to the Armory and beckoned me inside. I walked in slowly, examining the room.

It was much bigger than it looked. It was covered wall to wall in gleaming bronze weapons. Will had explained the concept of celestial bronze on the way over. I felt my mouth hang open in awe at all the weapons of all kinds. They had everything; guns, swords, spears, axes, war hammers, anything. Will spoke as he walked in, "Look around, grab what feels right. I'm gonna grab something real quick that I think you might like."

He walked away somewhere. I couldn't even tell where he had vanished too. I wandered deeper into the room. The itching sensation picked up on my back. I stopped walking for a second. It moved up my body. It slithered up to my shoulder and down my arm. My eyes widened as I realized where it was going, and on instinct covered my hand with my sweater sleeve. It quickly intensified into a harsh burning. I looked around and saw that Will was nowhere in sight. I yanked my sleeve up to my elbow. I whisper-yelled, "What?"

I glared at the thin less-than-a-foot-long snake tattoo on my hand. It moved like a living being on my skin. It slithered wildly in almost angry movements. The black and white scales moved just like the real thing. It was almost scary, sometimes it felt like it would bite me at any moment. It hissed inaudibly, but I knew what it looked like by now. It had free reign to go anywhere on my skin, but it only went somewhere visible when it wanted attention. It hissed at me again. Rolling my eyes, I yanked my sleeve back down.

I turned to my left away from the wall. I took about three steps before the pain in my hand spiked tremendously. I stumbled back to where I had been standing before out of shock. The burning feeling alleviated almost immediately. I grumbled, "Okay, we're playing Marco Polo again."

It would do this whenever I was supposed to find something. I scanned the room slowly. I took a step closer to the wall I had been next too. The itching sensation picked up slightly. The wall was covered in shelves that were covered in all sorts of objects. Most of which didn't even look like weapons. It would've thrown me through a loop if I hadn't seen Percy's pen turn into a sword earlier. I put my fingertips against the wall and began to walk. My fingers grazed the wood with each footstep that I slowly took. I even counted them in my head.

 _'One._ ' Nothing happened.

' _Two._ ' The itching sensation lessened but only slightly.

' _Three._ " It lessened again. Noticeably this time.

' _Four._ ' The feeling almost vanished.

' _Five._ ' The feeling spiked straight to burning, and I hastily took a step back.

The feeling lessened back to almost nothing. The only thing on the shelf in front of me was a jewelry box. It was a dark mahogany box with intricate flowers carved into the sides. The top was missing and the tiny hinges it had once been attached to were broken. Several objects sat in the box; wristwatches, rings, necklaces, and a pocket watch. The pocket watch was the only thing that really caught my eye.

I picked it up. The sensation vanished immediately, except for the slight itching that occurred when the snake moved back up my arm and settled on my shoulder blade. It was adorned with gears and obviously made with many different pieces of metal. It was a mixture of celestial bronze parts and some other matte black metal. I picked at the black with my nail as I tried to see if it was just painted. The weight felt too comfortable in my hand like it had been forged to fit into my palm. There were two knobs at the top instead of one. My thumb hovered over one of them ready to click it out of curiosity.

"Hey, bud, I got a question," Will yelled from the other side of the bigger-on-the-inside building. I snapped out of my stupor and watched him drag a suitcase my way. It was bulky with an ugly 70's-esque pattern covering it. He dropped it at my feet after a solid five minutes of struggling. He put his fists on his hips with the goofiest smile so big I was waiting for his face to crack.

"Uhhh," I hesitated, looking between the suitcase and the blonde boy. "Shoot, I guess."

"What are your pronouns? And name? I forgot to ask." He asked with a flip of his sunshine-colored locks. His eyes softened when they met mine.

My throat closed with surprise and slight fear. I searched dumbly for the words. No one had ever really asked me. Not to mention so directly. I mumbled slowly, "Arie. I'm a boy."

The words came out with an edge that I hadn't meant. He put his hand on my shoulder, and my breathing stopped briefly. I was waiting for him to say something, anything bad. His grin only grew. He bounced on his heels as he spoke, "I got something for you, bro."

He kicked the suitcase in the side excitedly. It clicked and sprung open on the floor. It was full of tank top like pieces of fabric. They all looked too short to ever be tank tops. They would barely stop a few inches past your chest. I looked at Will dumbfounded, but he only looked more excited. I looked back at the suitcase. Slowly the pieces began to click and I felt pressure begin to build-up behind my eyes. I breathed deeply before speaking, "Will... what are these exactly?"

He seemed to explode with color. His face reddened slightly and his eyes twinkled brightly. He exclaimed, "They're binders, but not  _just_  binders. Magically enchanted binders. They were enchanted by Hephaestus himself." His words sped up as he rambled, but my eyes were focused on the suitcase. "My brother, Micheal, uses one. We have like twenty. They're enchanted so that they aren't as physically restricting as regular binders. It's still not recommended you sleep in one, but it won't hurt you like a regular one would. They're enchanted to basically to mold with your body and move with you in battle. I've seen my brother run miles and fight entire capture the flag games in these things with no consequences. They're damn near indestructible too. They don't give you a perfectly flat chest, but it's the best we got."

He giggled awkwardly while rubbing the back of his neck. I threw myself at him without thinking. I wrapped my arms around his middle and pressed my face into his shoulder. I felt him respond almost immediately by hugging back. I didn't like to hug usually, because it made me overly aware of my chest. He deserved it though. I squeezed my eyes shut to avoid tears leaking through. His hand ran up and down my back in a soothing manner. He laughed lightly, "You didn't think you were the first trans demigod, did you? This is Camp Half-Blood no one is alone."

* * *

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. hope you enjoyed reading cause I'm doing my best to actually commit to this.


	3. Hermes Campers are Horrifyingly Ballsy

I followed Will out of the Armory after pocketing the pocket watch. He had also given me one of the backpacks that hung on one of the walls. It was a simple deep purple bag that looked slightly worn. The sun was already beginning to set as we walked to the 'camp shop'.

"Since you're undetermined," Will said as he swung our hands. "You'll be staying with the Hermes cabin. All unclaimed campers stay there." He said it so simply like everything he spoke was the most simple truth in the world.

I thought back to what he had told me about getting claimed. That whenever your godly parent felt like it they would let you know you were theirs by claiming you. You'd be moved to the cabin where you belong. I chewed on my bottom lip for a minute before stating, "There are only twelve cabins."

Will blinked at me. He seemed slightly surprised that I had said anything. We had been walking in comfortable silence for the most part. He was the only one that had really talked since the Armory. Thunder rumbled quietly above us despite the lack of clouds in the sky. We stopped right in front of what I assumed was the 'camp shop'. He leaned against the wall of the building, "Yeah, one for each of the major Olympians."

"But you said there were dozens of more gods, what happens to their children?" I asked. The toe of my shoe digging into the ground.

Will pursed his lips. He seemed deep in thought for several moments before speaking suddenly, "If I'm being honest, I don't think too many of them get claimed. The ones who do, just stay in the Hermes cabin."

"Oh," I said quietly.

"But don't worry about it too much, most kids don't get claimed until they're well into puberty." Will chuckled and opened the door to the shop. He motioned for me to stay outside while he ducked in. I stayed on the outside of the building, clutching the straps of my backpack. I kicked at the grass at my feet.

There was a sinking feeling in my stomach. This was a whole new place. A fresh start away from everything in Maine. A place where I could maybe feel safe. My eyes drifted to the tall tree at the top of 'Half-Blood Hill'. Safe, at least, when they fixed whatever was letting monsters into the camp. I observed the scene in front of me. The sunset was beautiful here. The sky was an almost perfect orange color. A horn of some kind echoed in the distance.

My eyes drifted to the Mess Hall. Will had explained that's where everyone ate their meals. I guess we were gonna be late. Will came bursting out of the door with a dorky smile on his face. In his hands, he held several articles of clothing at least three pairs of the same jeans and shirt. I eyed the shirt specifically, the same bright orange shirt everyone seemed to have here.

"They didn't have a lot when it comes to choices. You had to get a camp shirt,  _of course_. I got you some other stuff like a toothbrush-" he rambled on like he was in a hurry. "Oh, and I didn't know your size but I got you a belt and guessed." He gestured at my backpack with his filled arms. I quickly brought it to my front. He unzipped it and started shoving things inside. "We should hurry and get to dinner, it's  _Tantulus'_ s first official day of being activities director. Not to mention you're new and all also-" He cut himself off and looked at me. His brow was furrowed with an 'o' shaped mouth. "Actually, you can go to the bathroom's first and change into something you're more... comfortable in. I'll walk you there, but do you think you can find the Mess Hall from there?"

"Uh, uh, um yeah," I sputtered. Mentally slapping myself for being so awkward. His face lit up and I managed a crooked smile that probably looked more like a grimace.

"Awesome!" He grabbed my hand and began dragging me towards the bathrooms. I followed behind him awkwardly with my backpack in one hand, knocking against my knees. He was obviously in a hurry so I did my best to keep up with my shorter strides. When we got closer to the bathrooms he explained, "We don't really have gendered bathrooms they're just kinda whoever gets there first."

I swallowed hard and nodded. He continued to drag me until we got to the nearest bathroom. He stayed just long enough to say goodbye, give me a crushing hug, and then run off as I entered the bathroom. This one was a one person bathroom that had a shower installed the kinda bathroom you'd find in a campground almost. I stayed standing still for a bit just breathing deeply. I don't know how long I stood there with my eyes focused on a singular white tile on the wall. Thoughts kept swirling around my head.

What were the chances of me actually getting claimed? If my math was right, not very likely. It seemed like most of the kids here were claimed by one of the major Olympians. Will even said that some of them have powers based on their parents or excel at certain things. Apparently, Will was an extraordinary healer naturally. There wasn't anything I was really good at. I was fast. I was in track a lot and I usually won, but any human can get fast. I seemed to have known exactly what to do with that spear earlier. Although Will said that was more of a demigod instincts thing... or a child of Ares maybe.  _Maybe_. I doubt it. Statistics said I was more likely to be a child of a minor god because there were more of them. Will said it himself, he doesn't think they get claimed nearly as often.

I began to undress. As I pulled off my sweater my whole side ached. Putting my arm over my chest, I twisted to get a better look at my ribs. A pattern reminiscent to a galaxy spread across my side. Purples, blues, and yellows stretching across my side. Out of curiosity, I decided to poke it.

" _Fuck_." my breath sucked sharply in through my teeth. I laid my palm against my side as gently as possible. It didn't feel like anything was really broken. It all just felt really tender and badly bruised. Gritting my teeth, I continued to undress until I was just in my underwear. I opened my backpack. Pulling out the binder, a smile spread across my lips. Will really was a sweet guy. I swapped a size too small sports bra- it was a literal  _pain_  to get off- for the binder. I had only worn one once before briefly. I felt it flex to my skin while still suppressing my chest. It almost felt as if it moved with me when I breathed and bent. Almost like a second skin. It shimmered briefly before the fabric shifted to a darker, browner color. It was only a few shades off from my actual skin tone. I gaped at the magical material in the mirror. A weight lifted off my shoulders slowly.

I pulled on one of the bright orange shirts on quickly. I hurried to pull on some of the jeans Will had given me. They were a little too big but it was better than too small. After looping the belt through, I stood in front of the mirror. I may have spent three to five minutes patting my chest. After realizing I would have to go to dinner eventually, I splashed my face with water before exiting the bathroom.

When I got out the sun was casting its orangey lights over the cabins. I glanced at the Mess Hall, before walking towards the cabins. It was a slight detour, but I was already late so why not? In the middle of the cabins was a small campfire. Will hadn't really explained why. I walked up to the campfire and looked down at the flames. They flickered and licked upwards desperate for oxygen. The smell of wood smoke hit me again. I smiled faintly.

"Beautiful sunset, isn't it?" The deep and distinguished voice startled me. I jumped and spun around. My mouth dropped open. A centaur. He was so tall I had to crane my neck to look at his upper half that was connected to the white lower half of a horse. His dark brown jaw length hair and beard were the first things I noticed. Then he smiled, this smile that only the best teachers had. It reminded me way too much of my father and the way his tie always seemed to be stained by ink. Even the way his eyes crinkled at the corners with light dancing in his irises despite their dark color was similar. "You must be the new demigod, nice to see they already got the shirt to you."

I choked out, "Hi."

Welp, hit my quota for awkward interactions time to fall into this fire.

He chuckled, "No need to be frightened, child. I know I can be a tad intimidating to those new to camp." There was something in him. I couldn't tell if it was his language, the way he held himself, or one of the millions of other things about him that made him seem ancient. Like the tallest tree in the forest that they put a plaque in front of. "News travels around this camp faster than you'd ever think, despite my unfortunate circumstances I'd like to welcome you to camp."

His eyes were intensely focused on the fire in front of us. I managed to fumble for my words for several more moments before speaking. "Thank you...sir. I've heard a lot of good things about you."

His face cracked into a wistful smile that made my heart pang. He said, "I really do wish I wasn't forced to leave. There is so much work to be done here." He seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts as he turned to me. "I was informed that Will took you to the Armory and showed you around. I assume you picked a magical weapon since I see no broadsword on your back. May I see?"

"Sure," I said quickly as I fumbled to pull it out of my pocket. I checked two different pocked before pulling it out triumphantly. I handed it to Chiron quickly.

He held it in his hand gently. He squinted down at the pocket watch with intense focus. His lips formed a thin line and something flashed in his eyes. He looked down at me once more with a smile that looked a little sadder than it had a minute ago. He chuckled, but there was something empty about it. He spoke slowly, "This is a very well-made weapon, and temperamental at that."

"Temperamental?"

"This weapon hasn't been in use in..." He paused. He scratched the side of his beard as he thought. A distant look took over his eyes. "Forty-two years. It doesn't operate for everyone, just those it deems worthy."

"I, um, I haven't tried to open it yet," I mumbled. I played with my fingers. I hadn't known any of this when I picked it up. I glared at the ground. It probably won't even work for me.

A hand patted the top of my head. My eyes were drawn back to the centuar's. Something in them gleamed. He spoke confidently, "I believe it will work for you. I also believe you will be pleasantly surprised, son. It never takes the same form as it's last for a new owner." Chiron checked his watch. I could visibly see his whole body slouch slightly. "I'm afraid I must be off. I will try to not let this be the last time we see each other..."

He gave me a meaningful look. After a beat of silence, I realized he was asking for my name. I eagerly supplied, "Arie."

He handed the pocket watch back, and I put it away. He smiled and nodded, "Arie. I feel as if we will have much to discuss at a better time."

He ruffled my hair and clopped away. I watched him go for a moment. I then quickly realized that I should've been at dinner at least twenty minutes ago. Will had said it would be fine to sprint in the binder, so I took off. I took one last glance at Chiron as he walked in the opposite direction, towards the hill. His words still rang in my ears as I arrived at the Mess Hall.

I heard another horn sound from inside the Mess Hall. I faltered right outside of it. I hid behind one of the pillars. Almost all the tables had at least someone sitting at them. Three were empty and Percy sat alone at one. There was a table for all the nymphs and another for the satyrs(another thing Will had to explain). It didn't take long to spot the Hermes cabin. As Will had put it "It'll be the one with people falling off the ends." It was indeed that crowded. I think I could see one kid even sitting on the floor with a bitter expression. After the horn had sounded the talking slowly died from each table.

A pale and skinny man stood at the front. His skin looked paper thin. I bet if you took off his prison jumpsuit you'd be able to map every bone in his body from the outside. There was something about the way that he looked down at the campers that reminded me of a starving animal. Which by the looks of him may not have been far off. Next to him sat a chubby and red-faced man like he had just gotten out a bar on day. His Hawaiian t-shirt was spottable from a mile away. Will had explained enough for me to be able to tell this was Dionysis, or Mr. D, as he was usually referred to apparently. That made the other guy, Tantulus. I don't know how safe I felt with those two running the camp.

"Yes, well," Tantalus said, once the talking had died down completely. I noticed Tyson standing to the side looking incredibly uncomfortable. "Another fine meal! Or so I am told." As he spoke, he inched his hand dinner plate, as if he was trying to sneak up on it or hunting it. It shot away down the table as soon as he got within six inches. I chuckled silently at the bitter look that crossed his face.

"And here on my first day of authority," he continued, "I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."

Yeah, no, I think I preferred the vague centaur. Dionysus clapped slowly, looking bored, leading to some half-hearted applause from the satyrs. Tyson was still standing at the head table, looking uncomfortable, but every time he tried to scoot out of the limelight, Tantalus pulled him back.

"And now some changes!" Tantalus gave the campers a crooked smile. "We are reinstituting the chariot races!"

Murmuring broke out at all the tables—excitement, fear, disbelief.

"Now I know," Tantalus continued, raising his voice, "that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems."

"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations," someone at a table filled with tall, lithe forms called. The voice sounded very familiar. I looked closer and saw Will with his arm up and a determined face.

"Yes, yes!" Tantalus said. "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"

I had no clue what kind of chores were done here, but no chores was always a win. Judging by the way eager conversation exploded all over the Mess Hall, everyone agreed with me.

"But, sir!" I looked to where the voice originated. Clarisse stood up with a nervous expression. When she turned more towards Tantulus, I caught a glimpse of a sign taped on to her back: YOU MOO, GIRL! She rolled her shoulders a few times. "What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots-"

"Ah, the hero of the day," Tantalus exclaimed. "Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls!"

I knew for a fact that wasn't true, and by the look on Clarisse's face, she was just as confused. Clarisse blinked, then blushed. "Um, I didn't-"

"And modest, too." Tantalus grinned slimily. "Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp. We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?"

"But the tree-"

"And now," Tantalus said, as several of Clarisse's cabin mates pulled her back into her seat, "before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here." Tantalus waved a hand toward Tyson.

An uncomfortable feel shot up my spine. Tyson looked as if he wanted to cry as he stared at the ground. Tantulus smirked in a way that made his skin wrinkle. When he smiled he looked like the world's ugliest origami. He looked over the entirety of the Mess Hall. For a split second, it felt as if he was looking directly at me. That didn't seem possible I was so far away, it was dark, and I was almost entirely hidden behind the pillar. My tattoo began to itch from its current place at the back of my thigh. I inched farther behind the pillar.

"Annnnnnddddddd," Tantalus wound up like an announcer. "That one hiding behind the pillar too." He pointed directly at the pillar I was hiding behind. "C'mon on out demigod."

My stomach dropped. I felt a hot blush cover the entirety of my face. Every muscle in my back tensed as I took a step out from behind the pillar. Whispers washed over the Mess Hall. I shuffled forward with my hands stuffed in my pockets. His crooked grin and starved eyes looked down on me. I swear I could feel the stares on the back of my neck. I briefly met Will's eyes, but I broke the eye contact out of frustration.

"A new demigod, eh?" He chuckled. "You were causing just as much trouble as Jackson, makes sense, since you helped him torch that gym."

My fists clenched in my pockets. His grin only seemed to grow.

He continued, "Between you and this Cyclops, Percy seems to bring a lot of trouble to this camp."

I took half a step forward before deciding that would be a bad idea. I met the grotesque man's eyes stubbornly. His smile shifted into a sneer. He demanded, "What's your name,  _demigod_?"

"Arie," I grunted. I could feel everyone's eyes settling on me. Tyson glanced up at me briefly and wiggled his fingers at me. His gaze quickly turned to the floor.

A cruel look crossed his face for a brief moment. He sneered, "Is that short for Arianna? Or something of the like?"

I felt a weight settle in my chest. My throat felt like it had dried up ever so slightly. My nails dug into my palms in my pockets. "No, just Arie." The words tasted bitter in my mouth and he seemed to get off on my frustration.

"Have you been claimed,  _Arie_?"

An ugly smirk crossed his lips.

"No."

He scoffed lightly to himself. He waved his hand lazily in the direction of the Hermes table and turned away from me, "Typical, but can you blame the gods, sometimes children just aren't worth it. To the Hermes table with you."

I clenched my teeth as hard as I could as I walked towards the Hermes table. I met a pair of gray eyes as I walked past a table full of blonde heads just like Annabeth's. Her own eyes looked angry, but quickly turned sad when they met mine. I tore my gaze away and looked at the ground. Several campers had to shift just to make enough space for me at the table. I committed the tablecloth pattern to memory.

"Now, of course," he continued as if nothing had happened, "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes's cabin, possibly?"

I felt the nervous energy come off everyone at the table. I couldn't tell if it was because Tyson was a Cyclops or the fact that based on the size of the cabin we probably couldn't fit Tyson in there with everyone else.

"Come now," Tantalus chided. "The monster may be able to do some menial chores. Any suggestions as to where such a beast should be kenneled?"

Suddenly everybody gasped.

My head shot upwards. I looked towards wear Tyson was still standing. My jaw dropped without me noticing. An almost holographic image glowed above Tyson's head brightly. It demanded the attention of everyone in the room. The green trident was repeated swatted at by Tyson, but it wouldn't go away. My brain raced as I attempted to connect the dots.

Tyson was awfully interested in Percy being the "Son of the Sea God". I reached for the name. Poseidon. Percy was the only one who lived in that temple looking cabin because he had no siblings. I guess until now. I twisted to look at Percy. His face was almost blank except for the slight was his mouth hung open.

Tantalus roared with laughter. "Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!"

The Mess Hall roared with laughter excluding myself and a few others. Percy got up slowly after the laughter had died down. He escorted Tyson to the Poseidon table. The next few minutes of the dinner went quietly for the most part. I took many glances towards Percy. He seemed to suddenly find his plate extremely interesting.

"Hey," the kid next to me nudged me. He was at least a few years older. He had this crooked sarcastic smile that reminded me of an animal when it bore its fangs. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Watch this, kid."

He sat up straight and glanced around. His shaved head revealed his pointed elf-like ears. He scooped up some mashed potatoes with his spoon. His tongue poked out of his mouth with concentration. His eyes flickered around like he was seeing things that weren't there. He bent the spoon backward and squinted one eye closed. He mumbled to himself in a robotic tone, "Target locked. Firing in t-minus three, two, one.."

He released the spoon with surprising force the glob of mashed potatoes shot forward. It sailed over the table of blonde heads Annabeth sat at. I heard a loud frustrated squeal, He shrunk down in his seat. He spoke quickly, "Names' Vinny, who'd I hit?"

He spoke with a slight lisp and a typical New Jersey accent. I blinked dumbly at him and stated, "I'm new."

"I know just describe 'em," he said as he shrunk down farther. I noticed a scar that ran down the side of his face. Three jagged lines that could've been from a monster or a very pissed off girl with acrylics either was likely after the feat he had just accomplished. I had to stand up to see over all the heads. A table away stood a girl with impressively long black hair. At least it was black except for the spot of white mash potatoes at the top. She turned around directly towards the Hermes table. I had flashbacks to the way the bull leveled a stare at me after I had thrown a spear in its eye. I could make out her crystal clear blue eyes glaring in my direction despite the distance because of the way the stood out against her amber complexion. I ducked down very quickly as her gaze swept over me sending fear straight to my heart. "So?" Vinny asked from his curled up position.

"Um, Long black hair, tan skin, and blue eyes that are radiating hatred," I listed off nervously.

He closed his eyes and clenched his fist dramatically, "Head of the Aphrodite cabin, bonus points come at a high price, my boy." He clapped his hand on my shoulder and looked deeply into my eyes. I noticed the way his eyes crinkled attractively in constant amusement despite the somber way his face was shaped. There was a light in his eyes that almost made me smile too.  _Almost_. We both glanced over as the black-haired girl turned the corner around the Hermes table. Mashed potatoes still in her hair. He turned to me quickly, "It's been an honor to serve with you, cadet."

He turned around just as the girl walked up behind us. His whole face changed so quickly. He suddenly looked friendly and welcoming. His grin shifted sideways in a good-natured way. He rose his arms almost like he was offering a hug, "Silennnaaaaaaa."

Her arms crossed over her stomach and she leveled him with a cold look. He shrugged, "Not feelin' like a hugger, okay then."

"Of course it was you, Vinny," she rolled her eyes. Her eyes drifted over to me and then back to him with an even harsher light, "And you got the new kid involved? When are you Hermes kids gonna quit with this bullshit?"

She was definitely as old as Vinny, maybe a little younger but his scar gave him the appearance of being older than he probably was. Silena jutted her hip out and kept her gaze leveled at him. He chuckled cutely, "Silennaaa, ya know the rules, I don't make'em. It was my turn tonight."

She suddenly grabbed him by the front of his bright orange shirt and pulled him up so he was no longer sitting down. I then noticed that the rest of the Hermes table was watching with curious eyes despite keeping up some conversation. I watched Vinny gulp audibly, but his grin stayed in place. She hissed in his face, "Call off the competition before I decide to retaliate."

She dropped him like he was nothing to her. She then turned to me with a slight smile. Her smile only grew as Vinny rubbed his neck while mumbling to himself. She spoke sweetly, "Word of advice, Arie, don't get caught up with these fools." She reached out and ruffled my hair and in the same sweet tone she continued, "You're too cute to get destroyed with them."

She walked away with a confidence  _I could never_  have. Vinny chuckled and called back at her, "The Stolls won't wanna call it off."

Without glancing back she yelled, "The Stolls can suck my dick."

That was it. I'm in love.

I gaped at Vinny as he broke into full-fledged laughter. I couldn't help but chuckle along with him. Despite my best efforts, soon I was laughing hard along with him. He quite literally slapped his own knee after we both calmed down. He ran a hand over his buzzed hair. A large smile graced his lips, "Welcome to the Hermes cabin, bud, hope ya enjoy your stay cause there'll be a lot more of that."

I sputtered with wide eyes, "What was that?"

Not only was it one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. It was damn terrifying when that beautiful girl came up to us. What had I gotten myself into here? I don't know why this place suddenly felt like a real summer camp. A place where kids go to have fun not just train to fight monsters and possibly die.

Another horn sounded. He stood up and motioned me up. I scrambled to stand up. He was a good head taller than me. He slung his arm over my shoulders in a leisurely way, "I'll explain it on the way to the campfire."

Everyone eventually got up and we began to filter out of the Mess Hall. As soon as we had finally gotten out, Vinny kept his arm on my shoulders as we walked towards the Amphitheater. He began, "Soooooo, every year the Hermes cabin has a little contest. Cause we're all little shits." He chuckled at his own words. "Basically every night it's a different person's turn to fling mash potatoes at someone's head. Depending who ya hit, you get so many points. First one to fifty-five wins and get's the trophy. Hitting the Head Counselor of the Aphrodite cabin that got me seven points tonight."

There was a fierce determination in his eyes that made me chuckle, "Who do you hit for the most points?"

He thought about it for a minute. He tapped his chin with a finger. He spoke slowly, "Mr. D has never been hit. That'd probably be an instant win if you survived it." We got to the Amphitheater. We filtered in slowly in silence. He seemed to be thinking really hard about something. We sat down in the back with the majority of the Hermes cabin. Vinny made a yelp-like noise in the back of his throat. I glanced back at him. His eyes were filled with this chaotic light that was only magnified by the firelight. He leaned in conspiratorially, "Two years ago, one of the Stolls, no one knows which one somehow hit Clarisse in the back of the head even though the Ares table is on the opposite side and three tables down. She nearly tore everything the Hermes cabin to shreds looking for them." He leaned back with an impressed look in his eyes. He added with a shrug, "Twenty points, though."

I laughed at his nonchalance. It was hard to think when the last time was that I really laughed with someone like this. The campfire consisted of a bunch of weird lyrics that I had never heard of before. Vinny sang them with a little too much gusto and nearly knocked us back when he head banged a little too hard to the cheery tune. Eventually, the songs came to an end. The campers were ordered back to their cabins after being warned of the patrol harpies. Which, um, what the fuck? I chose not to dwell on it too much.

When we entered the Hermes cabin, I definitely didn't expect a normal wooden cabin with a bunch of metal-framed bunk beds. Although that is what it looked like. Even with all the bunk beds (some of which were doubled up), the majority slept on the floor. Vinny set up a spot on the floor not too far from the door. He threw a sleeping bag and a pillow at me with a grin, "Here ya go, bud. It ain't much, but its home."

He helped me lay out my sleeping bag. He patted me on the shoulder. He'd been so nice to me all night. I couldn't figure out why. It was knawing at the back of mind. Why would anyone wanna put themselves through the trouble after everything Tantulus said? My curiosity got the best of me, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

The words sounded harsher than I meant. He blinked owlishly at me. His mouth formed a little 'o'. After he seemed to regain his composure he ran a hand over the little bit there was of his bleach blonde hair. "My older sister had a boyfriend, ahem, like you, he, he... passed."

"Oh," the word slipped out slowly.

He smiled wide again and patted my back twice, "Sleep well, Arie, you'll need it." He turned around and sauntered towards his bunk. He took his shirt off and slipped under the covers. I was about to squirm into the sleeping bag as I had already changed (we stopped by the bathrooms on the way here with several other Hermes campers). "Oh and Arie."

I looked up at the source of the voice. Vinny smirked as he threw a shiny object at me, "Watch your stuff and sleep with your weapon under your pillow, god of thieves, remember."

My pocket watch landed on the ground in front of me with a clunk. I could only nod with a hanging jaw. He turned around in his bunk. About the time I managed to settle in, someone finally got up and turned off the lights. I tossed in turned for at least an hour before I passed out with Tantulus's words ringing in my ears:  _"Typical, but can you blame the gods, sometimes children just aren't worth it."_


	4. I Know Even Less Than Originally Thought

_It was wet. Rain in Maine had always been particularly horrid. It thundered distantly. The mud was giving way to my feet. I had sunk at least an inch deep into the dirt. My hair was glued to my forehead. My clothes stuck to my body in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable. I was aware I was sniffling, but I couldn't differentiate the tears amount the raindrops._ _The slab of stone in front of me was darkened with water._

_Philip Zambrano 1968-2005_

_A clammy hand rested on my shoulder. In the corners of my eyes, I could see the tops of dozens of black umbrellas. A sharp burning sensation shot through my shoulders. I opened my mouth to scream, but no noise came out. I crumpled to my knees. The muddy puddles around me splashed as I hit the ground. The person's grip tightened around my shoulder. Sharp nails dug into my shoulder._

_I was thrown backward violently by whoever belonged to the hand. I felt myself fly backward, but everything seemed to move by at a snail's pace. My eyes squeezed shut as I glided through the air. My back connected with a sturdy structure. My head whipped back into it. The feeling of tree-bark digging into my scalp. My teeth clacked together. Pain spread throughout my body. I forced my eyes to open slowly. My vision shook and, the dull colors that surrounded me blended together._

_A sharp whistle pierced the air. My vision instantly cleared. A woman. She sauntered towards me, her black lips curled into a grin. She carried a tall stick that looked like it had come straight off a tree. Her black trenchcoat stopped at her knees. Her long black hair fell over her shoulders elegantly. Her manicured hands glinted with silver. She stopped only a couple feet away._

_I attempted to scream again as the burning spiked again. Nothing came out of my throat. I could feel my head begin to droop with pain._

_My head was forced upward. The end of the staff in her hand was now underneath my chin. She forced my eyes to look at hers. Green eyes that glowed and smoked like her eye sockets had their own built-in fog machine. The glowing died slowly. Her eyes reverted to normal human-esque eyes except for her slitted pupils like a snake. The burning spiked again and she pressed the end of the staff into my throat. Nearly choking me and pinning me in my spot. I couldn't close my eyes even as they watered. I was too focused on her eyes. Slitted pupils surrounded by jade irises just like mine._

_She pressed the staff even harder against my throat. My hand reached for my throat as I gasped desperately for air. Tears dripped down my face. The burning hit harder before and all I could think was 'this is how I die.'_

I shot forward, gasping for breath. I ripped the sleeping bag off my body. Tears slipped down my face. The lump in my throat kept me from being too loud as I struggled to breathe. I scrambled out of the cabin as fast I could without tripping over someone. The only thing I had with me was the pocket watch which I had fallen asleep with it clutched in my hand.

I didn't really know where I was headed. I began to cool down as soon as I had left the musty air of the Hermes cabin. I walked with my head down deep in the pockets of my sweatpants. I briefly noted that it was extremely early in the morning. Tears still rolled down my cheeks. Dripping off my nose and jaw as I walked.

What did that dream mean? Was that the same woman who'd I seen when we were hiding in the alley? There was something familiar about her that made my stomach fill with lead and my throat dry. Every time I saw here the snake would burn. Almost on cue, I could feel the snake going wild. I could feel it moving around my body wildly almost like it was looking for an escape.

I almost walked into a wall and that startled me out of my thoughts. I blinked rapidly at the tan wall. I looked up and took in my surroundings. The arena. I had seen it in the distance multiple times yesterday, but I hadn't gone inside. I walked through one of the many openings.

I felt like a gladiator from ancient Rome. The arena was built like how I always imagined the Colosseum. Rows of bench-like seats lined the sides. The actual area in middle was just sandy dirt. Off to the side was a cart covered with multiple weapons. I gripped the pocket watch in my hand even tighter.

I walked slowly to the center of the Arena. I breathed in the fresh morning air. It was too early for anyone else to up it seemed. I looked at the pocket watch in my hand. It was such a quaint object to be a magical weapon.

_"It doesn't operate for everyone, just those it deems worthy."_

That was another thing that had been bothering me. I grabbed it because it felt right. What if it wasn't? I was still not convinced that I was anyone special enough to be a demigod. I ran my thumb lightly over the two buttons on the top. Every pocket watch I had ever seen only had one, to my knowledge. One black and one bronze like everyone else's weapons that I had seen. I looked around slowly for a moment. This would be embarrassing if it didn't work.

My eyes flickered back and forth between the two buttons. I poked my tongue out between my lips slightly. Bronze or black?

I closed my eyes and pressed a button. The pocket watch heated up in my palm. I opened an eye. My finger was still pressed down on the black button. I slowly released it. The pocket watch continued to get hotter and hotter in my hand until it burned. With a yelp, I dropped it into the dirt. I started frantically blowing on my hand. It almost felt like I was still holding it. The burning intensified suddenly. The snake went insane. I felt it rush upward and do laps around my neck several times. I fell to my knees. My hand held tightly to my body and curled over.

I heard someone call my name from behind me distantly. They sounded miles away in my ringing ears. I felt more than heard or saw someone I didn't know approach my back. Panic shot through my body. Without thought, my head snapped up and a familiar weight flew into my hand. In one fluid motion, I pressed the bronze button, the pocketwatch flashed a bright light before something flew into my other hand, and spun around on my knees. I swung my arm wildly at whoever had come up behind me. Almost completely through the motion the burning abruptly stopped. My senses returned to me. I froze my muscles at once, halting any motion they had been taking. Every inch of my body felt tense and my chest heaved. Fresh tears had rolled down my face.

My eyes met stormy gray ones. I could see the intense emotion in her eyes reflecting in the morning light. A bronze dagger was held up only inches from the shaft of the hatchet I had  _not_  been holding seconds ago. The weight was comfortable in my hand. There was identical weight in my other hand. The blade was bigger and sharper than on any other hatchet I had seen. There was a ferocious-looking spike coming out of the other side of the hatchet that had to be at least 3 inches. The shaft itself was a dark wood that was finely sanded and had grooves to fit the hand comfortably. Annabeth's dagger was poised to block the blow long before it would make any contact. My hand shook violently. I dropped the hatchet to the ground and scrambled backward. I dropped the other hatchet as well in favor of cradling my previously burned hand.

"I-I'm- I'm sorry, Annabeth," I was desperate to find the words that would explain what just happened. There didn't seem to be any though. "I didn't mean for that to happen-"

Annabeth knelt down in front of me after sheathing her dagger. She looked at the two hatchets that laid on the ground around us. She spoke softly, "It's okay, I know you didn't mean to." She sighed deeply. "I saw most of it, but what exactly happened?"

I explained to her how I ended up in the Arena at this ungodly hour. Her interest visibly piqued when I mentioned having a nightmare. I told her how I had talked to Chiron about the weapon. She seemed especially confused about that. When I got to the part about the weapon burning my hand even after I dropped it she spoke up. She said, "Show me your hand, Arie."

I hadn't really looked at the damage myself. It felt like I would be covered in third-degree burns. I held my hand out to her. She gingerly took it between her two hands and flipped my arm to look at my palm. I could see her forehead wrinkle as her eyebrows rose in surprise. She gaped slightly at the wound. She ran her fingers over my palm. I closed my eyes tightly waiting for a stinging pain, but it never came. I opened my eyes as she not so gently poked at it. My curiosity peaked, I asked, "Why doesn't it hurt?"

Annabeth mumbled, "The wound go so hot it instantly cauterized. It's almost like you've been branded." She looked up at me with a furrowed brow. Slowly, she let go of my hand, "Look for yourself."

I turned my hand toward myself. In the center of my palm was a scar. It looked fresh and pink, but it didn't hurt. It was in a very distinctive shape, Annabeth said it like I'd been branded. I looked like one of the gears that decorated the outside with two curves in the center. I looked like a snake's eye. My mind flashed back to my nightmare and my throat dried up. I mentally checked where my snake was. Upper thigh, okay, that was well hidden. Annabeth looked like she was overflowing with questions, and that would just add to the list of things where my only answer would be 'I don't know'. I spoke first, "I didn't know it would do that."

The dam broke.

"What are you? I've never seen that happen to a demigod. That wound shouldn't be completely fine. Did that weapon come from  _our_  Armory? What exactly did Chiron tell you about it? And what was that about a nightmare?" Annabeth took a deep breath after she finished rambling. She looked at expectantly with this fire in her eyes.

"Uhhh..." was my intelligent response. She stood up and put her hands on her hips. I scrambled to stand up in front of her. I spread my hands at my sides and shrugged not knowing where to begin.

_Fshwinnngggg._

I looked down at the celestial bronze hatchets that had just  _flown_  (of their own fucking accord mind you) into the palms of my hands. I gaped down at them and noted the way my left hand had warmed slightly when it happened. I looked back up at Annabeth who's features hardened even more. She stabbed me in the shoulder with a finger, "Explain. Start with everything about the weapon."

I scrambled to explain, "I found it in the Armory with Will, and when I showed it to Chiron he said it hadn't been used in a really long time because it chooses its owner. And... I don't really know what I am I was just kind dragged here and forced to join the story." I chuckled awkwardly and tried to hide my anxiety. My voiced raised in pitch when I had talked that made me uncomfortable.

Her gaze didn't lessen if anything she examined me even harder. I tapped on the shaft of the hatchet with the pads of my fingers. She stated calmly, "You avoided the question about your nightmare."

"Oh, um..." my gaze shifted to the ground as my throat dried up again. I cleared my throat as best I could. I tightened my grip on the handles instead of drumming my fingers on them. "I, um, had a nightmare about my dad's funeral. It was a year ago but I still have nightmares sometimes," I explained meekly. I chose to leave out the details about the woman.

There was silence for a long moment. I felt a hand on my shoulder. My eyes met Annabeth's gray one. Her face had considerably softened. She said, "Whatever this all is, we'll figure it out when Chiron comes back, kid," She ruffled my hair a little, "Until then I'll help you out when I can."

I nodded. My attention was drawn back down to the two very sharp weapons in my hands. I started, "So, umm, do these turn back into a pocket watch or..."

Annabeth blicked at the hatchets. She pursed her lips for a moment before speaking, "Have you tried like putting them together?"

I furrowed my brow at her. She retracted her hand and shrugged. Honestly, I didn't have any better ideas. I lined the two up next to each other. When the touched for a solid three seconds they glowed and morphed back to a pocket watch in my left hand.

...Ya know what, why not?

I laughed silently at my own absurd bad luck. I looked up to see Annabeth smiling as well. She walked me back to the Hermes cabin, so I could start preparing for the day. She had told me today would be almost a test run for me, that they'd have me try out a little of everything to look for clues to whose child I was. My heart dropped when she mentioned getting claimed. If she noticed my drop in mood, she didn't mention it. She left for own cabin when we arrived in front of the Hermes cabin. I entered as quietly as possible.

I gathered my clothes as silently as possible. Tiptoeing around sleeping campers, from some other end of the cabin, someone snored obnoxiously loud. I crept right back out of the cabin toward the bathrooms. I changed in the same bathroom as the day before and instantly felt more comfortable. I couldn't help, but wonder what time it was. Will had explained briefly that electronics attracted a monster's attention so there were none at camp. I felt the now familiar weight in my pocket. I pulled out the watch. Was there a way to open it without like summoning weapons?

On instinct, I pressed both buttons at once. I braced myself for it to burn me again. There was a soft click in my hand. I peeked one eye open to check what had happened. It had swung open like any other normal pocket watch. 7:59 was the time. I closed the watch and pocketed it. Vinny had mentioned that everyone got up at eight. If there were no alarm clocks, how did people know to get up?

A horn, louder and more obnoxious than the one for meals. The groans of awoken campers could be heard from the bathrooms for sure. Walking out of the bathroom, I almost ran into someone trudging towards the bathroom. Their eyes took me in lazily before going into the bathroom. I walked back to the Hermes cabin. Here and there was a sleepy camper trudging towards the bathrooms or somewhere else. I entered the cabin to two boys who looked exactly the same yelling. One yelled, "All right guys you know the drill."

"Roll up your sleeping bags and put your shit wherever you plan on sleeping." The other one, slightly taller but still identical in every other way.

"If someone moves it or steals it," The first one said with an impish grin.

The other mirrored his expression and finished, "We're your counselors, not your police force. You can fight your own battles."

I maneuvered my way to my sleeping bag. I dodged many tall and lanky bodies to get to the bag. Dropping to my knees, I began to clean up my stuff. After I had everything I had tucked into a corner, I sat back and closed my eyes. There was a heavy weight in my stomach that made me think something bad was bound to happen. I didn't have much time to think about it as there was a shoe prodding into my back. I turned around to see the two Hermes counselors.

The taller one flashed me a grin. He prodded himself in the chest with his thumb, "I'm Travis Stoll-"

"And I'm Connor Stoll." The other one butted in.

"-You're the new kid," Travis continued, "And before you ask we're not twins."

"We're also your counselors of the Hermes cabin."

My eyes flickered between the two boys. It was beginning to dawn on me that all the Hermes campers had those impish smiles and pointed ears. Something chaotic in their eyes told me that these weren't faeries I wanted to piss off. I chuckled awkwardly and offered a weak half-smile.

A pair of well-muscled arms wrapped around the two brothers' shoulders. Vinny looked at me with a wicked grin. The olive skin of his face indented with lines from his pillowcase, I assumed. He groaned playfully, "Don't scare the kid too much, guys, he's in for one hell of a day."

"Does that mean you're gonna be the one to drag him to the infirmary when he falls off the climbing wall?" Connor spoke as he ducked out from under Vinny's arm. Vinny used his now free hand to rub his bleached hair. Watching the Hermes campers caused a pang in my heart. They all seemed to be like each other's annoying little brother at the same time. I'd be lying if I wasn't the slightest bit envious. Will had said everyone found a family here, but I was doubting that more and more every minute.

Vinny laughed, "Of course, also Silena threatened us again, wants to call it off."

The Stolls shared a glance before laughing at Vinny. They walked away and began yelling at campers to start getting ready to head out for breakfast. Vinny shook his head before looking back at me. With a much softer smile, he asked me how my first night was.

"Ummm..." I started. "Not the best if I'm being honest." The words sounded quiet and sheepish. I felt like so much had happened today, but it was only just beginning. I didn't know how t explain it, nor could I really find the want to. The pocketwatch sat comfortably in the pocket of my jeans.

"The first night is hard for everyone," he admitted sheepishly, "But you'll get used to it even if the camp isn't in tip-top shape right now." The Hermes campers began to wander out of the cabin and line up. Vinny led me outside with the other campers. On the way to breakfast, he explained that the food and drinks magically appeared. He also mentioned how we were supposed to put a small piece of our meal into a fire as a sacrifice for the gods. He continued, "Sometimes the god who you dedicate the sacrifice to will do somethin' small to show their gratitude or acknowledge you."

When I finally got my food, I approached the fire. I had no idea what to do. My mind raced too fast to comprehend in the five-foot walk to the fire pit. After a moment of pause, I scraped a bit of scrambled eggs and hash browns into the fire pit. In a squeaky and unsure whisper, I said under my breath, "Hades treat my father well,  _please_."

The fire seemed to brighten. The smell of fresh earth wafted upwards. The smell of the earth after heavy rain and iron. My mouth tasted of metal briefly. I walked away from the fire to the Hermes table with swirling thoughts.

Breakfast went by smoothly. It was after breakfast that things got really weird and hard. We were allowed to leave the Hermes cabin behind and wander around from activity to activity. Vinny wasn't lying when he said I was in for a hard day. He took me to each activity and explained which god's children tended to excel at it. He would then either do it with me or have me do it with whatever cabin was already there.

When we got to the arts and crafts area. The Hephaestus cabin was already in the middle of working on dozens of different things with campers. Some were making simple little crafts that you could find at an elementary school. Then there was some motherfucker who seemed to be making some kind of fire-breathing Roomba. One of the Hephaestus campers who introduced herself as Dani led me over to where she was making an insanely large birdhouse. She directed me to where she wanted me to hammer nails in to give the birdhouse extra support. One and a half nails later, I whacked myself in the hand so badly that it bruised within five minutes. By the time I got all the nails in(very badly but still in) I had hit at least every single one of my fingers and somehow punctured a hole through the wood. Dani assured me she could fix it with a sweet smile after I apologized twenty times. Vinny laughed his ass off the whole time. His brown eyes danced in the sunlight and his laughter was obnoxiously cute. Asshole.

The next thing we did was archery. As we approached the shooting range, I saw a familiar head of blonde waves. His quiver strapped to his back and a bow almost as tall as him in his hand, Will had a fierce determination about as he aimed down range He released the arrow with a soft twang. The arrow embedded itself in the target just right to the bullseye. Will pumped his fist in the air. He turned and saw me with Vinny. Will ran up and hugged me excitedly. He seemed to realize quickly that this was more business than anything else. He handed me a bow after demonstrating the basic techniques. He handed me an arrow then gave an excited thumbs up. After a few tries I was able to hit the target almost everytime, but never near the bullseye. After we went through a few rounds of arrows clapped me on the back with a smile and a promise to talk to me later.

We bopped around to all the other activities. I fell out of a canoe or four. The naiads helped me back up to the surface, giggling the whole time. I could feel my face heat up with a dark blush as they pushed me onto dry land. Vinny's stupidly cute laughter rang from the middle of the lake again.

The pegasus riding would've gone just as bad I'm sure if one of them had even let me get on. All of the winged horses seemed to run from me every time I approached (it only hurt my feelings a little). The person running it was that girl, Silena, she made many passive-aggressive comments toward Vinny. Although there was always a hint of playfulness to it and she was overwhelmingly sweet to me. She seemed just as confused as to why they were avoiding me. The only one that let me approach was an abnormally tall black pegasus. It's only distinctive markings were white marks around its hooves and random white feathers in its plumage that reminded me of my own freckles. The whites of its eyes stood out among the darkness of its hair. I didn't dare to touch or ride it despite Silena's encouragement. There was something in its eyes that reminded me of my uncle who worked as a prison guard. Kinda like his eyes forever held that "Try it, motherfucker, I want you too" look.

The climbing wall I did surprisingly well on, according to Vinny. I got to the top. Not nearly as fast as the satyr, I went against but I made it to the top with minimal second-degree burns. I also enjoyed it a lot more than anything else that day. More than racing against some of the Hermes kids even. The Hermes kids were abnormally fast which made them a challenge for me which was fun, but the climbing wall just seemed like more fun. Anyone could run in a circle real fast. Though I suppose I see the benefit of running super fast when you get chased by monsters on a regular basis.

Vinny and I stopped for lunch before hanging out on the beach. We talked about everything we had done so far that day. The older boy was fun to be around. Although the moment on the beach couldn't last forever as there was one more thing we had to do before dinner. Combat training, which was usually run by Clarisse. Who Vinny described as, "Annoying good at what she does because she can back up the shit she talks."

I entered the Arena for the second time that day. This time with Vinny at my side, but about the same amount of anxiety. We walked up to where there was a crowd of people formed in a circle. Vinny used his arm to push open space for us. In the center of the circle was two kids in armor fighting with  _real_  swords. I looked up at Vinny with fear and confusion, but his eyes were locked on to the fight in a calculating sort of way.

One of the fighters jabbed forwards with his fist. The other swept the flat of their blade against his ankles causing him to fall backward. He must've stepped forward a little too far. On his way down the guy grabbed wildly at the horsehair tail coming out of the helmet of his competitor. Their head yanked back and the helmet came off, falling with the defeated boy and revealing Clarisse. She then put her foot on his armed hand. She leveled the sword's point at his throat. she smirked, "Do you yield?"

The boy gulped and nodded slowly. She let him get up and dust himself off after that. His ego looked thoroughly smashed just like his fingers that Clarisse had been stepping on. She commanded to the rest, "Partner off and practice your sword skills."

Her eyes scanned around until they landed on me and Vinny. He stood there with a defiant smirk on his face and his arms crossed, refusing to show weakness it seemed. I, on the other hand, was ready to leave because she was scanning me the same way farmers pick out the best cow to slaughter. She said, "Barlow?"

Vinny cocked an eyebrow, "Clarisse, I'm sure you remember Arie. I'm taking him on the first day of camp rounds, and you're the last stop."

The buff girl mimicked Vinny's body language. I couldn't help, but notice that she pulled off defiantly unafraid much better. She asked with an amused expression, "Save the best for last?"

"Nice to see you're developing a sense of humor finally," The blonde boy said innocently like he hadn't just provoked a very buff woman with a sword. My theory about his scar coming from an angry woman with acrylics was becoming more and more plausible. Clarisse grunted but didn't say anything. There seemed to be some kind of tentative mutual respect between the two. He continued with a smile, "Can you just give the boy a fight, it's been a long day, I'm sure he could use the tension reliever."

I looked at Vinny like he was fucking  _insane_. Whom the fuck? Said I needed to fight to relieve this tension. Was I frustrated cause we had no more of an idea to who my parent was? Yes. Did I want to get my ass kicked? No.

Clarisse looked around. Her eyes seemed to settle on someone in one of the pairs that were already fighting. I couldn't tell who though. She turned back to Vinny, "Put the kid in some armor."

Vinny led me off to the side where there was a cart full of armor and weapons. He put me in a breastplate. After he had helped me with all the straps, he handed me a helmet that looked too big with a reassuring smile. He said quietly, "You'll be fine, you can use your own weapon and if you almost die we're prepared for that."

"What? Do you have a hole pre-dug that's about five foot three inches deep?" I asked incredulously. He laughed and slapped my shoulder. He led me back towards Clarisse with a hand on my back.

Next to Clarisse, a boy taller than me although probably just as skinny stood in full armor. I couldn't see his face outside of his bushy eyebrows and deep-set brown eyes that seemed much more intimidating than they should at the moment. Clarisse patted his shoulder and spoke, "This is Kai, son of Tyche, you may have seen him around the Hermes cabin, maybe not though he was on Border Patrol last night."

He took off his helmet and tucked it underneath his arm. His shaggy black hair shone with sweat. He reached a gloved hand out and shook my hand. There was a twinkle in his eyes that was different from the Hermes kids. The way he held himself radiated confidence. Vinny squinted his eyes at Clarisse, "Really?"

Clarisse looked at him with a stern look, "I watched this kid take down a fire-breathing bull by himself." I felt myself swell with a little bit of pride. "To be fair, though, I spent most of that fight running from it."

There went my self-esteem.

"Okay, but still," Vinny pressed, his accent seemed to gain in strength with his concern.

Clarisse shrugged, "This fight isn't made for him to win, it's to assess how much of a natural warrior he is."

Vinny relented with a nod. People halted what they were doing to gather around us as Clarisse explained the rules of the fight. It was basic stuff really, just to keep the fight fair and safe. I pulled my pocket watch after she had noted that we could use any weapon we wanted as long as it was celestial bronze. She backed away so that she was standing on the inside of the circle that had formed. Kai pulled his helmet on smoothly. I scrambled to put it on my head. As soon as it was on I realized it was indeed as big on me as it looked. I looked around the circle and the helmet wobbled with my movements. Clarisse called out, "On my mark. Ready...set...go!"

My heart leaped in my chest as she bellowed that final word. It was then I realized, I hadn't even summoned my own weapon. With a cry, Kai charged and swung his sword in a downward arc. I dove out from underneath his swing on instinct. Rolling to my knees, my helmet had twisted weirdly when I dodged. I felt more than saw him come up behind me. I dove to the side again landing less gracefully this time.

There were a few scattered laughs and chants of "Come on already, fight!"

I quickly unbuckled my helmet with a shaking hand. I heard another cry behind me. I grabbed the horsehair tail on the top of my helmet and flung the piece of armor at is ankles. I heard it clang loudly against his shins, and then the sound of his body hitting the dirt. I scrambled up to the other side of the circle.

I hastily clicked the bronze button on the top of the pocket watch. A flash of light and a light thud later there were two hatchets in my hands. I was looking to finish this as fast as possible. I stood still as Kai got up. He chuckled, "Lucky shot, but, trust me, I'm luckier."

He charged again. He swung his sword towards my side. Without thinking, I swept the hatchet on my opposite side to block. My other hatchet was sliced through the air towards his head. He was forced to duck and stumbled back. I saw my opening. Sugin forward I kicked the taller boy in the knee, causing him to stumble more. As he bent over slightly I used the side of the hatchet, slamming it into his helmet. He was knocked sideways. Just as it appeared that I would win, Kai swung his blade so that the flat of the sword struck my fingers. Crying out I dropped one of my weapons. He recovered extremely fast from my last blow. He suddenly stood straight. He gripped my hatchet just below the blade and kicked me in the chest.

I fell to the dirt with all the breath knocked out of me. He threw my weapon several feet away. He leveled his sword at my throat and asked smugly, "Do you yield?"

My mind raced a mile a minute. A solution came to me in seconds, it felt so natural to be fighting like this. Almost like my body was pre-wired for it and it was working on my next move almost faster than I could comprehend. So I had a plan although the "Will it work?" factor was sketchy.

I looked at where his feet were. He had one foot in between my ankles and the other on the other side of my left leg. In one smooth motion and as fast as I could, I kicked my leg up. I kicked my right shin into the side of his thigh. I swept my left leg into his the same ankle. With a surprised yelp, he fell to the side. I held my hand out toward my nearest hatchet. I concentrated as hard as I could and my scarred palm warmed slightly. The weapon flew into my hand. I scrambled over to where he had fallen. Pressing my knee into his chest, I held my hatchet shaft against his neck. I panted, "Do you yield?"

He went to swing his sword at me. I summoned the other hatchet to my hand and in a powerful motion, I slammed it into the guard of his sword. It fell from his hand and skittered several feet away. I asked again with more force, " _Do you yield_?"

Kai's eyes flickered back and forth rapidly for several moments. He let out a very heavy sigh, "Fine."

I got off him. There was a moment of silence and then cheering and clapping, some more polite than happy. Vinny clapped me on back excitedly. Clarisse looked me up and down calculating. There was a new emotion in her eyes that I couldn't quite place. It was then that the horn for dinner sounded over the camp.

Campers began to disperse until it was just Vinny, Clarisse, and I left in the Arena. Vinny was grinning smugly at Clarisse, "Well how'd m'boy do?"

Clarisse chuckled and shook her head. She looked me in the eyes which intimidated me to no ends. She spoke with complete seriousness, "You didn't do bad, Arie..."

I scrambled to tell her my full name, "Zambrano. Arie Zambrano."

"Well, Zambrano," she continued, "You did well, I'd be lying if I said that was a fair match."

Clarisse began to walk out of the Arena. Vinny high-fived me excitedly, "Alright let's get you out of that armor."

"I'd leave it on," Clarisse shouted over her shoulder.

Vinny furrowed his eyebrows and shouted back, "Why?"

"You'll see!"


	5. Chapter 5

Forests were scary, and the trees were decidedly not my friends right now. I stood in a forest with only a leather breastplate and my twin hatchets for protection. Only less than half an hour ago, Tantalus had announced that instead of dinner we would all be participating in a surprise Capture the Flag game. The winning team wouldn't have to do any chores until the chariot race and the winners got to eat first when the games ended or so he said. It sounded slightly like child abuse, but I wasn't about to question the sadistic twig-man in public.

Vinny had very speedily explained the game to me with his usual quirky eyebrow movements and obnoxious dimples. The whole thing seemed like a death trap. The gods are probably personally toying with my life at this point, and it's just like that now, I guess. My original plan had been to stick near Vinny since we would be on the same side no matter what. Then Tantulus had explained that he would be choosing the teams. It was to be Athena, Hermes, Aphrodite, Demeter, and Dionysus against Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, and Hephaestus. Vinny phrased it as "The good cabins versus Athena and their mess."

"But we have more people," I said slowly, as far as I knew, everyone here was trained in combat.

"Yeah, but Hermes and Aphrodite don't get along well for obvious reasons," he referenced the stunt I saw him pull on my first day, "Athena doesn't work well with Aphrodite or Hermes, because neither of us is good with overly bossy authorities. Demeter knows the forest better than anyone, but they aren't always the best fighters. The Dionysus kids won't actually help, it's just to say they are participating but they aren't."

And it was then that Annabeth began bossily shouting at every single member of her team about some kind of strategy. I was grabbed and swept into the growing heap of shouting campers and barked orders before I could even blink. I had no choice in the matter whatsoever, not that I would have had the chance to protest. The Athena kids didn't allow long enough breaths in between their orders to get a word in edgewise.

Which is probably why I'm in this predicament right now. I was supposedly on guard duty while the rest of the Hermes cabin led by a few Athena kids tried to go for the flag. In all reality, it was probably just a case of "Get the new kid out of the fucking way", I wasn't mad about this arrangement at all. This meant I was one of the least likely to be skewered tonight, and if that meant I had to eat later and do some extra chores so be it.

Except the forest was dark... and fucking creepy. Trees would rustle causing me to jump and whirl around. Occasionally the rustling was followed by a tinkling laughter which did not make things better. Around the 5th time this had occured, I whirled around to see a slender girl in the branches of the tree before she could hide amongst the leaves.

"Hey! I saw you," I yelled at the tree top. After a moment of silence, I started to feel stupid and paranoid. What idiot yells at a tree for rustling in a forest full of teenagers with hyperactive tendencies and daddy issues? It was probably a group trying to find the flag. Not that that was very reassuring considering I was supposed to stop those groups. Shaking my head, I threw my hatchet into the forest floor out of frustration. I just want my pillow, dammit.

"I didn't mean to scare you, but you demigods can be so cute when you're frustrated," a high-pitched and lilted voice came from nearby.

I spun around not even bothering to summon up my other hatchet. Still no one there, until a whistle met my ears and drew my eyes upward. The tall trees made it even harder to see in the night, but my heartrate decreased as I recognized the body of a girl hanging from the tree about fifteen feet up. She was very pretty, but what stuck out in the moonlight was the striking green of her skin and hair. She dropped all fifteen feet down to the forest floor with ease and grace. She walked around me in a circle, kind of like a panther stalking its prey.

"Wh-who are you?" The words came out awkward and forced. I'd always been no good around people, and it apprently applied to green ones as well.

She laughed good-naturedly, she walked closer to me from behind until she passed me only to pivot and stand directly in front of me. She replied jauntily, "I'm a dryad, a tree spirit," her every word had a certain joy in it that I didn't understand, "Lots of us live here."

"Just like the lake," I caught myself mumbling before I could stop myself.

The dryad nodded to herself cheerily. Her hair was slightly darker than her skin, and her button nose was covered in freckles that were also a darker green. While the rest of her skin held a more traditional vibrant chlorophyll tone. She leaned towards me and cocked her head, "You're the new boy right? Arie?"

"How do you know my name?"

"Word travels fast in the forest, but they didn't mention how cute you were," she giggled and it took me a minute to realize she wasn't messing with me. When I did realize it, I turned beat red in embarrassment. She cooed, "Awwweee, would you look at that."

"Thank you, um, miss." Today just really wasn't my day was it. I was about ready to just walk into the forest and become a hermit. Although apprently I couldn't even be alone in the forest.

She tapped her finger to her lips and hummed lowly. Her eyes were alight in the dark forest. They constantly darted back and forth with a sense of neverending joy and excitement. Her brow furrowed though, she seemed to be deep in thought about something. "Now..." she started, halting her eyes to make direct eye contact with me, "What was it she said?"

I blink several time before I completely processed her sentence. I stumbled over my words frantically, "What are you talking about?"

"She told me to tell you something what was it?"

The forest was deadly quiet to me all of a sudden. My heart punched against my rib cage, I spoke slowly, "Who is she?"

"What did she want me to say..." Her tongue stuck out slightly between her teeth in thought, "For gods sake, what was it?"

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, my voice rose in pitch and volume.

The nymph squealed and jumped in the air. She stepped even closer to me and I didn't even have a moment to react or step back from the invasion of my personal space. She giggled and proudly declared, "She said you look just like your father, but your eyes belong to her, and then I was told to do this."

The nymph blew some sparkly dust into the atmosphere around us. I gasped automatically inhaling way to much of the dust all at once. I could feel its affects almost immediately. My tattoo went crazy, but I couldn't comprehend it. It felt as if my internal organs were vibrating and it was slowly spreading up and outwards until I lost feeling in my arms. It was still spreading when she squealed again, "Oh! She wants you to-"

I lost my hearing midway through her sentence. Everything was overwhelming fuzzy. The dryad swayed in my vision as i tried desperately to read her lips. She smiled cheerily and started to reach her hand towards my face. The sluggish thought to bat her hand away passed through my mind, but the message never reached my arms from my brain. She tapped me on the nose with only the slightest amount of force. I had lost the feeling in my legs. The small push was enough to send me falling backwards. The falling was like the world's worst drug trip. everything was too slow and fast at the same time. I don't know if I hit the ground or not, all I knew was the deep and cold darkness that took over my entire being.

Then I was awake laying down, but surrounded by nothing but darkness. My limbs were extremely light as I sat up, opposed to how heavy they had been before. There was nothing here. Just me and the dark. Honestly fuck this demigod dream bullshit. I shouted, "Hello?"

My voice rang out, but there was no echo. The sound waves simply absorbed by the dark. I tried again even louder, the same outcome. I stood up, my limbs felt lighter than they ever had. It was like I was about to float off whatever this floor was.

"Where am I?" I had never had a dream like this before. The darkness was almost like a living breathing thing almost like it was alive. There was no entrance or exit just a neverending void that I didn't recognize. Not even a trace of any kind of smell or taste in the air, no sounds, no anything. It all felt to real like if I stepped forward enough eventually I'd touch something or feel it. Taking a deep breath I took my first step forwards. No other place to go except forward one step at a time. My anxiety supplied me with plenty of nervous humor to keep me occupied on the journey. "Hello darkness my old friend..."

Nothing. My steps became more and more confident as I started to realize nothing was gonna happen. "...I've come to talk to you again."

I let out a light chuckle at my own humor. It then occured to me that I wasn't armed on the void. I frantically patted my own pockets. Nothing. Again.

Looking down at my own body, I was wearing... something. My shirt flickered wildly between colors so fast that I couldn't tell what they were supposed to be, but I wore my usual plain black jeans and green sneakers. "What is this place?"

No answer, of course, the void doesn't give a singular fuck. The void don't need or answer to no man or tiny trans boy. But, gosh, it should would be nice if she would answer to me.

I thought to what happened before i passed out. All I could remember were the words that nymph had said to me at the end, nothing else, almost like it was all blocked from my mind.

"She said you look just like your father, but your eyes belong to her"

What the hell was I supposed to do with that?

A silence stretched out in front of me.

How long would I be stuck here?

Everything was so dark and lonely. I could be here forever.

What if this was a coma? Would I ever get out? Or would I just die in the dark.

Fear and panic rose in my chest. Pummeling my ribs from the inside out. I couldn't tell if my breaths were nonexistent or just happening to fast. The general feeling of lightness in this place reached my head.

"Where am I?!"

My scream echoed throughout the void. i was all alone, I really was. I lowered myself on to the floor. Hugging my knees to my chest, I rested my head on top of them and closed my eyes. Maybe if I closed them I'd wake up out of this nightmare.

One.

Two.

Three.

And open. Nothing had changed. Fuck. I sniffled a little. It smelled like perfume. Leather and perfume and wood smoke. I blinked rapidly. Leather and flowery perfume that reminded me of mall samples from passive-agressive employees. Leather like my dad's buddy who insisted that his leather jacket was a fashion statement. Wood smoke like the fireplace in the living room of my aunt's home. I knew those smells and the void didn't smell like that a few minutes ago.

I rocked forwards onto my knees. I looked around frantically, where was it coming from?

Looking down, a thin layer of green-ish smoke surrounded my knees. I scrambled onto my feet and turned in circles with my fist clenched. The smoke continued to swirl, thicken, and rise. It soon captured my entire lower body.

I waved my arms frantically to break up the smoke. The smoke would swirl, but wouldn't do more than that. I started to panic as it showed no signs of stopping. It passed my elbows, then my shoulders, and finally encased my head. The void had gone from pure blackness to nothing, but pale green fog. The color green was starting to become my least favourite.

I started stumbling forward as I choked on the smoke. My hand waved back and forth wildly as I ran forward tried to not trip over my own feet. I managed to not to for about two minutes before things started to go around. I swung my left arm a little too hard and threw off my momentum. I fell forward, but caught myself. I used one of my hands to brace my fall. I managed to not hit the ground. I kept going forward for a few more feet before I tripped on my own foot. I flew through the smoke landing hard on my side.

I skidded to a stop on the ground. I coughed on the floor. Only choking slightly, the air tasted like wet dirt. I closed my eyes for only a moment and whispered, "What the fuck."

A deep chuckle echoed throughout the void. I started to scramble up, but stopped when the smoke appeared to be clearing. No, it wasn't clearing. It was separating, slowly, a rectangular section of the fog around me started disappearing. The fog around me disappeared, but it stayed suffocatingly thick less than 3 feet to my left and right.

A silhouette appeared just outside the clearing on the opposite end of me. The silhouette was unbelievably tall from my point of view. A long, slender, and dark leg pierced through the smoke and into the clearing. An african-american woman of incredible stature and elegance sauntered forwards. Her hair was short with a flashy metal clip. She wore a luminescent pearl white flapper dress that shone against her skin that seemed almost black in comparison. She was terrifyingly beautiful and regal. Every one of her features was sharp. Her clothes almost seemed dotted with crystals. Her lips were painted blood red and her eyes glowed neon green.

I couldn't speak out of fear. This was a powerful entity, I could feel it in my chest. Squeezing my ribs and stopping my heart short as she looked down her nose at me. My jaw flapped up and down as I tried desperately to speak.

"I am the Oracle of Delphi," her voice seemed like it was broadcasted in surround sound like she was wearing a microphone and I was surrounded by large concert speakers. "Who are you, and who do you think you are the trespass in my realm?"

The air suddenly appeared in my lungs. I stuttered, "I, I, I don't know where I am."

"I am the Oracle of Delphi," she repeated with an edge of anger, "And my spirit is trapped in this realm, who are you, trespasser?"

She stepped forward menacingly, I squeaked out in a panic, "Arie Zambrano."

The oracle paused for a moment her lips becoming a thin line in thought. She whispered to herself, "The god of folly, of course, following me from even beyond the grave. I'm going to enjoy this one. Zeus damn that bitch."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

She crossed the gap between us with unreasonable speed. My heart rate spiked in my chest. My breath caught in my throat as she seized my head between her hands. Her thumbs rubbed soothing circles into my temple, but terror still ran through my muscles. Her head snapped back. Smoke poured out of her neon irises. She gasped loudly like she had just been punched in the gut.

Her head slowly lolled forward until our eyes met. but there was no more neon green eyes. Just blackness where her eyeballs were and smoke trickled out of her slightly parted mouth. Words came hissing out of her mouth.

"Follow the heir of the sea.

Your death is farther than the eye can see.

Sacrifice will be your test

A god's cruel and unseen jest

A soldier's greatest fear

Your voice will be the last she will hear

Mirroring your imperfections.

Blood will stain your reflection.

A final thread will be cut.

The window to the soul will be opened and shut.

Boots of the fallen's bones gilded in gold.

A child's heart encrusted in mold.

The true nature of ruin and war will unfold."

Her eyes slowly returned to normal. A tear trickled down her cheek as she dropped to one knee. My head was still in between her hands. She held on to me desperately like I was her lifeline. She looked at me with her still intense though exhausted eyes. She spoke once more, "I'm sorry."

With a sudden push, I found myself falling backwards. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as I watched the grim face of the oracle disappear from view.

I waited to hit the ground with a solid smack. It never came.

I hit the floor, but it came accompanied by the sound of the largest mirror in the world being shattered. I fell through the floor. I was consumed by darkness once more. Nothing but the void again. No green smoke or smell of perfume. Only darkness and the overwhelming feeling of falling from an incredibly great height. Air rushed passed my body as I fell. I didn't dare anticipate when I would hit the ground or how fast I was going.

A tear slipped out of my face.

What would happen when I landed?

The tear hovered about a foot above my face, falling at a slower speed than I was.

What if I died here?

I reached my hand out towards the tear slowly.

Would anyone care? Would anyone know?

My extended pointer finger was just a hair's width away from the tear drop.

No one would know huh? A fitting death, I would say. A death no one would notice for a boy no one noticed.

The tear splashed against my fingertip.

Slam! My body hit some kind of floor with extreme force and in an explosion of pain. I gasped and closed my eyes.

And then I was in a cabin. My body was covered from head to toe in fear sweat. I was sitting up in the bed. I had no memory of sitting up but here I was. My vision took it's time focusing for now it swam like a character in Finding Nemo.

"Arie!"

Three voices.

"You're alive!" A girl.

"You're awake!" A boy?

"You're... really sweaty," That was Vinny. I knew it.

My vision focused finally. Vinny, Will, and Silena were all on the room with me. It didn't take long to realize I was in the infirmary. My mouth felt incredibly dry. I braced my arms against the bed, but they felt weak and shakey even with most of my weight supported by the bed.

"Whecccccc," the dry sound came out of my throat instead of words. Will jumped a little and rushed to hand me a glass of golden liquid.

I drank it greedily. The taste of bulgogi spread across my taste buds in a confusing and delicious way. The taste perplexed me, but only made me drink faster. I slammed down the drink with more force than I meant to.

"What happened," I croaked out at last.

There was a moment of silence that pasted between the three. There was a note of shame in Vinny's gaze that scared me and caused my throat to tighten. It was Silena who spoke first.

"I found you alone and unconscious in the forest during capture the flag," she explained. Her graceful features were contorted with concern. "No sign of anything that could have done it to you."

"We've been taking turns looking after you," Will supplied quickly. He switched to a very informed and focused tone, "All of your vitals are completely normal from an outside medical perspective you're above average-ly healthy."

"Well I'm sorry you wasted your night watching me then guys," I said jokingly with a small smile. Relief flooded through my system at Will's assurance that I was completely healthy.

Vinny stepped forward, rubbing the back of his neck, "Bud, its been almost 4 days since capture the flag, and a lot has happened."

Silena cut back in to the conversation, "Clarisse got sent on a mission to heal the Thalia's tree today. We've had several attacks since that night."

"It's about time someone did something, none of us are happy about the tree, especially Annabeth and Percy," Vinny said with a hint of anger in his voice. It was good to know hating Tantalus was pretty universal.

Wait, Percy.

"Follow the heir of the sea"

That had to be Percy. Oracles were people who told the future right, and what you should do. I had to follow Percy wherever he was going.

"I need to go talk to Percy," I stated with as much determination as I could.

"Oh hell no," Will said, very annoyed looking. "You are staying right where you are until I say you are healthy enough to leave."

I began to passionately argue with Will. Silena chuckled as she tiptoed out of the room. I barely noticed her slow disappearance out of the corner of my eye. Vinny stayed where he was for a while. Will and I traded increasingly colorful language with a spattering of medical terms, vague references to destiny, and synonyms to fuckwad.

Eventually Will turned to Vinny and started raving to him about how he needs to tell me that I have to listen to him. It was during that rant that I was able to crawl out the window above my bed while making direct eye contact with Vinny. Not that Will would notice where Vinny was looking he was too focused on mannerisms and ranting. Vinny quirked an eyebrow and a smile at me as I dropped out the window. My legs almost gave out as I hit the grass.

After a deep breath to quell my queasy stomach, I fucking booked it to the Poseidon cabin. It did take me longer than it usually would to run there, because of my stiff muscles. I slammed through the door and banged it behind me. A very frightened Percy and Tyson looked up at me. Percy appeared to be packing and Tyson was lounging in a bunk bed.

I locked the cabin door and stalked towards Percy, "I don't know where you're going, I don't know why, and I'm sure I'll regret this later, but I was told by some supernatural force that I need to follow you. These supernatural forces seem so intent on leading my life for me so I'm going to listen to them this time and I'm coming with you wherever you're going."

Percy's eyes were the size of saucers as he blinked slowly at me. His mouth hung open for a long moment before his answer slipped out, "Okay, Arie, I'll trust you."

A loud and angry bang was repeated on the Poseidon cabin door.

"Arie Zambrano you sneaky son of a bitch!" Will yelled at the top of his impressive lungs.

Percy gave me a weird look, but I elected to ignore it.

"Take your sushine and shove it up your ass, Will Solace."


	6. Chapter 6

Sand sucked. Harpies sucked. Injuries sucked. Tantulus sucked the hardest. My bangs shook back and forth in front of my eyes with my disappointed head movements. Percy's face had crumpled into such a heartbreaking look earlier. Tantulus's smug face could be impaled by a bronze bull at this point for all I cared. He was a complete and utter ass. Tantulus, of course, had to give Clarisse the quest Percy deserved. I was starting to feel like an idiot for running up to Percy and declaring that I was going on some quest with him this morning.

"Arie!" Percy's voice, echoey and distant, but recognizable. I had been laying in my bed when an intense burning pain had shot up my back and his voice sounded. I followed where I believed it had been coming from. It stayed consistently quiet and persistent. It was at this moment that I realized that doing things like this is probably why I was so easily drugged. The shrug came involuntarily in response to my thoughts. Sand squished under my sneakers. A certain moistness that came with being near the ocean stuck to my body.

I'd be lying if I acted like I had been sleeping peacefully when Percy's call beckoned me towards the ocean. I had been sitting snugly in my small corner of the Hermes cabin. My stopwatch securely in my hand, mirroring my face, giving off a steady bronze glow. The glow of the weapon in disguise gave just enough light that I could vaguely see myself in its reflection. I sat there for hours. My own green eyes staring back at me. A pale green that reminded me of the sickly glow people who were sick beyond recovery had. I looked like my dad. I really did, it was one of the small comforts I had. I had his insanely wavy tree bark colored hair, mine had always seemed much frizzier. I had the wide-bridged hooked nose that he was always so proud of while I had been self-conscious of it. I had deep-set eyes just like him, but my monolids were way more obvious. His dimpled and pointy chin, wide cheekbones, and thick eyebrows. It was all so painfully Philip Zambrano. Being evasive of mirrors was still a reflex hidden in the back of my mind. My grandmother stopped letting me stay at her house after he died, and I couldn't really blame her. I didn't want to live with me either.

The color of my eyes was all my mother, whoever she was. My dad used to sit on our porch with me at dusk and tell me stories. They met when he was young only twenty-two. He used to smile as he detailed every one of their wild adventures with some censoring. She was a party girl with a knack for causing trouble and talking her way out of it, or in some cases jumping fences out of it. She was in most beautiful girl in the world in his stories with the most fascinating life. He even called her a "Collector of Comedies and Tradgies". To me at the ripe old age of six, mom was an adventurer, a modern-day pirate who didn't care about rules she just wanted to have a good time and a better story. She was everything I wanted to be at that age. I convinced myself of things that I now know couldn't be further from the truth, things I used to yell at the mean kids on the playground with tears streaming down my face. "My mom is just collecting more stories for me." "My mom is an adventurer." "My mom just doesn't like Maine, it's too lame for her." "My mom could kick your dad's ass." "My mom doesn't care if your dad is a cop." "My mom didn't leave me." "My mom loves me." Funny the things kids will come up with when given too much time to themselves.

As I got older, I noticed how my dad's stories seemed to get a little sadder. A little more real, I guess. I was getting old enough to notice how he had trouble keeping his smile during certain parts of the story. Eventually, I stopped asking for the stories altogether. I had my dad, I didn't need to know about my mom, because my dad was pretty fucking cool. I'll never learn all the details to his stories about my mom, but after he died the question of "Where is my mom?" popped up again. That's when I started to gather all the small pieces of dad's stories, and I stitched them together with the comments my grandmother made at night after a couple of drinks. Mom was a party girl with a drinking and drug problem that did nothing but get in trouble and drag my dad into it. She left me, their kid, in the middle of the night one day, and never returned. Grandma really really hated her. It was a side of her that I had never seen before because apparently, she hid it behind a door that her old friend whiskey held the key to. She'd been second only to my father to tell me how I had her eyes. "That cocaine whore's eyes." Honestly, grandma was wild after a few drinks. Of course, now I knew my mom was a Greek goddess who just couldn't be bothered with me because she was too busy being godly and shit. Which is so much better.

So there I was, sad in my sad little corner. That's when I had first heard Percy's call which led us to this moment now. I saw Percy and two other figures standing at the edge of the water. I gripped the strap of my little backpack that I had had the sense to grab. The sheer size of one of Percy's companions gave away that it was Tyson. The feminine figure next figure hinted towards Annabeth, but I couldn't be sure. I trudged forward having to put extra force in my steps to not get stuck in the damp sand. They sensed me before I got within ten feet. Annabeth whipped around with her knife at the ready. My hands immediately flew up in surrender. What can I say? Momma raised a quitter. Oh wait... she didn't raise me at all.

Annabeth lowered her knife as her brow furrowed deeply. Tyson scratched his head and slowly said, 'Did you hear Percy too?"

"Yeah," I drew the syllable out slowly as I looked between Annabeth and Percy.

"He's not coming with," Annabeth said defiantly. She stared Percy down in a way that seemed like a bull facing a matador.

Percy's eyes widened comically, "I already told him, he could."

"What the fuck, Percy?"

"He said it was important."

"He's twelve."

"So were we!"

They bickered back and forth. Several points were thrown at Percy that he inadequately fought against. Annabeth was just better at arguing with logic. Percy had heart and determination, but this wasn't a baseball movie. I stepped forwards between the two waving my arms wildly. I announced, "Annabeth, I'm going."

She opened her mouth to argue. I put my hand up in a stop motion. Her mouth shut with an audible clack. She was visibly peeved at being signaled to shut up. I turned so that I was solely facing her, "Listen, Annabeth, I can't explain really, I could try, but it wouldn't make sense. I know I'm meant to follow Percy on this."

She straightened, "How could you know that?"

"I had a dream about it," the lie had sprung forward faster than I could think. My experience in the void had left a sort of residue in my body that felt deeply personal. Or maybe this was just after effects of being drugged. Either way, I felt vaguely hysterical and determined about this.

Before she could answer Tyson blurted, "Ship is far."

Percy clapped his hands. Nervous energy radiated off of him in waves, "Okay, Hermes said my dad would help."

I opened my mouth to ask when he had spoken with Hermes. I immediately closed it. In this demigod world, I was learning that sometimes you just don't want to ask questions. Percy knelt next to the water, the tide gently brushing the soles of his shoes as it came in. "Umm, Dad?" Percy said with an awkward shimmy of his shoulders. "How's it going?"

"Percy!" Annabeth whispered. "We're in a hurry!"

"We need your help," He called a little louder. "We need to get to that ship, like, before we get eaten and stuff, so ..."

Nothing changed. The ocean stared back at the four of us with no mercy. My eyes trained on the cruise ship Tyson had mentioned. It was steadily getting farther and farther away from the shore. A soft gasp drew my eyes to Annabeth. Her eyes were locked somewhere closer in the water. I followed her line of sight with my own eyes. Three streams of frothy white water came speeding towards us. It reminded me of every shark movie ever made right before the shark struck some poor unsuspecting idiot. They began to close in on the shore when the tops of their heads broke the surface. They seemed to be white stallions swimming with the speed and grace of a dolphin.

Tyson clapped his hands together, "Fish Ponies!"

Annabeth corrected quietly, "Hippocampi." She was too busy staring in awe to properly correct the cyclops. They pulled themselves onto the sand with no struggle. Their back halves were silvery fish bodies, with glistening scales and rainbow tail fins. I could smell the salt water from five feet away.

"So..." I began, "Are we supposed to like get on them?"

I was swiftly ignored. I eyed the Hippocampi warily. They seemed to be equally distrustful of me. I took a step forward and the one that had been very affectionately nuzzling Annabeth made an aggressive snorting noise. Which I assume is the Horse equivalent to a growl or a "Back off fucker." I shifted my eyes to the ocean. It was so... large and... wavy.

"We'll admire them later," Percy said. "Come on!"

The camp harpies screeched behind us. It was either the ocean with distrustful Hippocampi or Tantulus and the Harpies, that was my horrible horrible choice. Was it bad I had a moment where I was actually considering the second option? The option was quickly taken away. Annabeth grabbed my forearm with an immense force she pulled me onto the back of a Hippocampi with her. The Hippocampi made several disapproving noises.

"I don't wanna be here either bud," I drawled at the fish pony. The amusement of the situation didn't seem to occur to Annabeth as she elbowed me before stroking the Hippocampi's neck in an effort to comfort it. The Hippocampi did a speedy one-eighty turn that left me clinging to Annabeth's shirt until my fingers turned white. The screeches of Harpies became a distant echo as the Hippocampi zoomed across the surface of the water. The salty sea water splashed up occasionally stinging my eyes. It had been years since I had jet skied, but the sensation of going high speeds over the ocean came back to me. With every bump and wave, we passed over my heart rate spiked. I couldn't feel my fingers and I didn't dare open my eyes. The ocean sucks.

Oceans and I hadn't gotten along since it killed my dad and left us with an empty coffin. Apparently, my destiny was to follow the kid of the god of the sea, the sea which killed my dad. Oh, and my tattoo was having a fucking rave on my back that set my nerves on fire. Thanks, Oracle, next time can I just get a fortune cookie and go on my way?

We went over a rough wave, and, not gonna lie, I screamed. The crisp ocean air ripped it from my lungs. Annabeth yelled my name probably because she thought I was dying. My arms wrapped around her middle tightly. She slapped at my hands as I was most likely suffocating her. I forced myself to loosen my grip despite the throbbing lump of fear in my chest.

I forced my eyes open. The large white cruise ship loomed above the three Hippocampi, and the impression I got was that we were supposed to take this thing on like David and Goliath. My heart stopped for a moment. I didn't know what was happening, I hadn't had the time to ask any questions about where we would go or what we were doing at all. I looked over to Tyson and Percy who looked like two cowboys riding into the sunset. Percy's hair whipped wildly in the air while mine flickered and stabbed my eyes. The ship's name was painted just above the bowline in black letters, lit with a spotlight. It took me a few seconds to decipher it: PRINCESS ANDROMEDA. Attached to the bow was a huge masthead, a three-story-tall woman wearing a white Greek chiton, sculpted to look as if she were chained to the front of the ship. She was young and beautiful, with flowing black hair, but her expression was one of absolute terror. It was very concerning the classical depiction of a beautiful woman was one that was extremely terrified.

"How do we get aboard?" Annabeth shouted over the noise of the waves, but the Hippocampi seemed to know what we needed. They skimmed along the starboard side of the ship, riding easily through its huge wake, and pulled up next to a service ladder riveted to the side of the hull.

Percy looked over at the two of us, "Annabeth, you go first."

The water was still lapping up at my ankles. The water weighed down the bottom of my jeans. Annabeth patted the head of the Hippocampi before she grabbed onto the ladder. She jumped off of the back of the Fish pony, her left foot caught the bottom rung and the right dipped into the surface of the water. Tyson looked at me helplessly.

"Tyson, shhh!" Percy said. "Come on, big guy!"

"Can't we take Rainbow?" Tyson asked, his smile fading.

Percy and I stared blankly at him. "Rainbow?"

"Um, we have to go," Percy said. "Rainbow ... well, he can't climb ladders."

Tyson sniffled. He buried his face in the hippocampus's mane. "I will miss you, Rainbow!"

"Maybe we'll see him again sometime," Percy said with a noncommittal shrug.

"Oh, please!" Tyson said, perking up immediately. "Tomorrow!"

I smiled at him despite my chronic shaking. I waved him towards the ladder. He had an even easier time than Annabeth getting to the ladder due to his long limbs.

I watched as Tyson got halfway up the ladder and Annabeth swung her legs over the edge of the ship. Percy's brow was furrowed and his mouth set in a thin line at me. He waved his hand towards the ship like I had done to Tyson, "Come on, Arie."

I stared at the space between me and the ladder. I tried to stand up slowly, bracing my hand against the neck of the Hippocampi. The Hippocampi began to swerve and buck in the water. I had never felt more unwanted and put down by a horse or a fish before. The constant movement of the Hippocampi caused the creature to slowly get farther away from the ladder.

Percy looked nervously down at the creature. His eyes rose to meet mine slowly. His mouth hung open in a way that made him look half-fish himself. I felt my heart beating extremely fast. He yelled across the growing distance between us, "It's okay, I've got you, you won't drown, I promise."

My jaw flapped up and down in response. I wanted to argue and go back to shore. I wanted to tell him that the ocean fucking sucks and his dad could go stick sand up his ass. But... I didn't.

I swallowed the dryness in my throat, and I nodded at him. My legs shook wildly. I shifted my weight onto my back foot which the Hippocampi did not like in the slightest. It snorted angrily at me. I felt it get ready to fling me off, it's muscles moving drastically underneath my feet. Percy's Hippocampi was fine and resting calmly directly next to the ladder. Now or never. I launched myself towards the ladder. The Hippocampi had dove under the waves the second my weight had left it's back. I flew several feet through the air. I wasn't gonna make it. I reached my arms out as far as they could reach. Both my hands caught the very bottom rung. The entirety of my body made a clapping sound against the freezing water. I quickly pulled myself out with all the strength and speed my heavy clothes would allow. Percy followed closely behind me up the ladder. The climb wouldn't have been difficult if I hadn't been shaking like a dead leaf.

At the very top of the ladder, I swung onto the deck. I laid on the wooden flooring with my eyes closed and shaking. It was cold and I'm pretty sure I was, in fact, transforming into a puddle. I felt more than heard Percy land on the deck.

"Arie?" Percy said softly. I pried my eyes open to look at the black-haired boy. There was nothing, but the concern in his eyes. He held his hand a few inches above my chest. The water that had seeped into my clothes and bag began to be pulled out forming a ball of water that was at least a foot in diameter. With a flick of his hand, the water was sent back overboard, but the chill of the ocean stuck to my skin. "Are you okay?"

I had begged to be on this quest. I had bargained and fought with Annabeth to be here. I couldn't show how overwhelmed I was. I couldn't show that I was so deathly afraid of the water that was our main form of transport. I couldn't show that I had no clue what was happening. I couldn't show how unprepared I was for all this. I couldn't show that I didn't know what the fuck my prophecy meant. I couldn't show that I wasn't ready for my destiny. I couldn't show that I wasn't ready to die. I couldn't show that I was twelve and so fucking afraid of everything.

I sat up quickly with my eyes wide open. We were surrounded by at least a dozen yellow lifeboats. The reflective strips on the small boats reflected the moonlight onto the deck. I mumbled as I shot to my feet, "I'm fine."

Percy's hand landed on my shoulder, but I shrugged him off. Tyson was gently running his fingers over the reflective strips on a lifeboat. Annabeth knelt at the end of the room in front of some wooden double doors. She had her knife jammed in between the two doors. As I stepped closer, I could see her shimmy and use the knife like a crowbar. The right door suddenly popped open with a gentle swing. She rose to her feet and spun towards Percy and me. She whispered with a smirk and a smug twinkle in her eye that I had come to associate with Hermes kids, "Taaa-da."

She held a finger to her lips. She took the time to make commanding eye contact with all of us as if to reinforce that delicate "shut up" mannerism. Her next move was to wave us forward as she snuck forwards like we were some kind of special ops team toddler edition. Percy took up the rear with his pen in hand. I was directly behind Annabeth with my fingers rubbing my stopwatch nervously. Percy and Annabeth took turns looking corridors and over balconies. Every time they would turn around with a confused yet relieved expression that meant no one was around. After checking several more places, Annabeth commented, "There's no one here."

"A ghost ship?" Percy said.

"No," Tyson said, fiddling with the strap of his duffel bag. "Bad smell."

Annabeth frowned. "I don't smell anything."

"Cyclopes are like satyrs," Percy said. "They can smell monsters. Right, Tyson?"

He nodded nervously. Now that we were away from Camp Half-Blood, the Mist had distorted his face again. Unless I concentrated very hard, it seemed that he had two eyes instead of one. His big brown eye had a crinkled forehead above it that reminded me of a baby that was being force fed it's least favorite food.

"What exactly are we doing here?" I piped in nervously.

Percy looked at me with an "Oh yeahhhh" expression. He shook his head lightly, "We're going to the Bermuda Triangle to get the Golden Fleece to heal the tree."

"And find Grover." Annabeth added, "It's actually called the Sea of Monsters to us."

"So we're gonna be on the ocean the entire time basically?" I didn't even wait for the answer I already knew, "Great." A level seven voice crack hit me in the middle of that word which gave away how I was feeling more than I wanted.

Percy kept his eyes on me before turning towards Tyson. Annabeth stared the Cyclops down with a cold edge, "So what exactly do you smell?"

"Something bad," Tyson answered.

"Great," Annabeth grumbled. "That clears it up."

Percy frowned at her back as we crept forwards. We came onto another empty deck. This one held a large pool with rows of chairs with tacky umbrellas. The water in the pool glowed eerily, sloshing back and forth from the motion of the ship. I eyed the closed bar for a moment. Above us, there were more levels a climbing wall, a putt-putt golf course, a revolving restaurant, but no sign of life. It was was like a very empty Camp Half-Blood on water. Though it completely lacked the homey feel of the cabins and campfire pit.

My tattoo started slithering. The stinging sensation danced lightly over my skin, but it set off quiet alarms in the back of my mind. It circled my waist and chest leisurely.

"We need a hiding place," Percy whispered from behind me. "Somewhere safe to sleep."

"Sleep," Annabeth agreed wearily.

Annabeth continued to lead us down a few more corridors in search of someplace to rest. We came to an empty level on the ninth floor that Annabeth jimmied open with her knife. Annabeth and Percy ushered us in quickly. They did one more check of the corridor before silently closing the door. The sting of my tattoo was persistent but calm. Adeepp breath and heavy eyelids convinced me to ignore it for now. I took a moment to survey the room. There was a basket of chocolate goodies on the table, an iced-down bottle of sparkling cider on the nightstand, and a mint on the pillow with a hand-written note. Unfortunately I was not as certain as the note that I was going to enjoy my cruise.

I was just about to lay down on the floor when Annabeth grabbed my arm. "We'll be next door," Annabeth said. "You guys don't drink or eat anything."

Percy asked as he eyed the chocolates, "Do you think it's enchanted?"

"I don't know," Annabeth said reluctantly.

"Something isn't right here," I told them. My mind refocused on the stinging pain that now danced across my shoulder blades. Both sets of eyes stared at my quizzically, "Something is... bad here, just trust me."

Tyson whimpered in agreement next to the bed.

Annabeth nodded. She pulled me out of the room after a quick goodnight to Percy and Tyson. I heard the door click as Percy locked it on the other side. When we walked into the other room, Annabeth speedily locked the door. I threw myself onto the couch. I went through my bag. I decided to change into something more adventure-worthy.

I changed into black pants that had more give than the bulky jeans I had been wearing. I replaced the Camp Half-Blood t-shirt for a plain white shirt. They were two very basic pieces of clothing Vinny had given me "in case you get tired of neon orange" which had made me blush and stutter.

The last item made my eyebrows rise and made my full body blush. Underneath almost everything else was a black denim jacket with flannel patches on the elbows. It was covered in iron-on patches everything from NASA to random slogan patches most likely purchased at Hot Topic. I'd seen Vinny dig it out one afternoon and commented on it. I had no clue when, but he must've snuck it into my bag. I slipped it on, the inside was lined with flannel and their were inside pockets on either side as well as outside pockets. I slipped my weapon into a inside pocket. The jacket was a size or so too big for me, but it smelled like cologne and comfort.

I needed the comfort of someone I deeply cared about more than ever right now. I curled into a ball on the couch and tried to sleep the night away. Besides if I was gonna be the world's tiniest hero, I'd have to be in peak condition.


End file.
